Aussie avoids death penalty drug charge

PROSECUTORS have called for a five month jail sentence for a former Australian airline executive facing drug charges in Bali.

Prosecutors today urged Bali's Denpasar District Court to find Barry Wilfred Hess, 50, guilty of being a drug addict who failed to report to police, instead of alternative charges including drug trafficking, which carries the death penalty.

Mr Hess is on trial after police allegedly discovered 14.4g of hashish and 2.7g of marijuana in his Kuta home in August.

Prosecutors last month upgraded their charges against the former Ansett manager and Air Paradise general manager to include trafficking, which carries the death penalty.

But prosecutor Ni Gusti Ayu Sasmita said after last week's court hearing that there was no evidence Hess was distributing drugs.

Mr Hess, formerly of Melbourne but a Bali resident for the past 14 years, had also been charged with three other articles including drug possession, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, drug use and being a drug addict who failed to report to police.

Prosecutor Ni Gusti Ayu Sasmita told the court there was not enough evidence to prove the trafficking or possession charges.

She asked that Hess be sentenced to five months' jail for addiction - a month less than the maximum penalty for the charge.

"The factors that require a harsh punishment are that the accused's conduct could harm himself, his actions bring danger to the young generation and negatively affect Bali as a tourist destination, and contribute to drug dealing, especially in Kuta where he lives," she told the court.

"The factors that call for leniency are that he feels guilty and regrets what he did.

"He has never been convicted of a crime and he is undergoing rehabilitation as a drug addict."

But Mr Hess's lawyer Daniar Trisasongko said five months' behind bars was more than his client deserved.

"Five months is a long sentence for an addict," he said.

"I hope the judges will give him less than that and order him to rehabilitate."

He said the prosecutor did not clarify whether Mr Hess, a long-term resident of Bali, would be deported from Indonesia if found guilty.

The defence waived its right to object to the prosecution's sentence request.

The court will hand down its verdict next week.

Balibo Five case closed, Indonesia says

INDONESIA insists the Balibo Five case is closed, despite fresh reports that a telegram sent by an Australian Government minister revealed the five journalists were murdered in East Timor.

A widow of one of the five, Shirley Shackleton said she received the telegram from Whitlam-era foreign minister Don Willesee days after her husband Greg and four other journalists were reported missing in East Timor in 1975.

In his dying days in 2003, Willesee told his daughter that the Australian Government covered up the affair, The Australian newspaper reported today.

A Sydney inquest into the death of one of the Balibo Five is due to report its findings next week.

Indonesia's foreign affairs ministry spokesman Yohanes Kristiarto Soeryo Legowo said Indonesia's position on the case had not changed.

"Basically, for the Indonesian Government, it is a closed case, as simple as that," he said.

"I don't want to comment further.

"Whether they want to have such interpretations, it does not change our view and position.

"We have conveyed our position on the coroner's court as well – that they don't have jurisdiction here and I want to stress once again that it is a closed case."

The inquest sparked controversy in Indonesia in May, after a senior Jakarta politician who had been visiting Sydney flew home in anger after being asked to testify at the inquest.

Former Jakarta governor and now potential presidential candidate, Sutiyoso, was allegedly a member of a special Indonesian military unit that attacked Balibo in 1975.

Brian Peters, Greg Shackleton, Gary Cunningham, Malcolm Rennie and Tony Stewart were gunned down in the East Timorese border town of Balibo.

During the inquest, counsel assisting Mark Tedeschi QC, asked the coroner to recommend war crimes charges against those responsible.

Landslide at Freeport Indonesia's mine injures 13

JAKARTA - A landslide injured 13 workers at U.S. firm Freeport's gold and copper mine in Indonesia's Papua province on Saturday, the company said.

The landslide outside the Grasberg mine did not affect company operations, Mindo Pangaribuan, a Freeport Indonesia spokesman, said.

"It's a natural incident. The victims sustained light injuries," he said, adding that the injured, all Indonesian workers of the mine, had been taken to the company-run hospital.

The mine -- believed to have the world's third-largest copper reserves and one of the biggest gold deposits -- has been a frequent source of controversy over its environmental impact and the share of revenue going to Papuans.

(Reuters)

Indonesia Volcano Erupts (Mount Kelud), Villagers Flee

MOUNT KELUD, Indonesia (AP) — One of Indonesia's deadliest volcanos began erupting Saturday, according to seismic readings, but there was no visual confirmation because the peak was cloaked in fog, a senior government volcanologist said.

Panicked residents fled the mountain's slopes in police trucks and volcano monitors abandoned their posts Saturday, witnesses said.

Although no lava or ash could be seen, seismic readings showed Mount Kelud, in the heart of densely populated Java island, was erupting, said Saut Simatupang, a leading scientist with Indonesia's Volcanology Center.

Hundreds of underground tremors have shaken the area and the temperature of its crater lake has reached the highest level since the mountain was put on high alert several weeks ago.

In 1990, Mount Kelud killed more than 30 people and injured hundreds. In 1919, a powerful explosion that could be heard hundreds of miles away destroyed dozens of villages and killed at least 5,160.

Scientists fear a buildup of magma under the crater lake could trigger a violent blast, sending a torrent of mud, ash and rock careering down the side of the 5,679-foot mountain.

On Thursday, police went door-to-door and used megaphones to order villagers to flee to tent camps.

More than 100,000 people living in areas considered to be at risk were ordered from their homes, but most never left or had returned, officials say.

Some who stayed behind were asked to sign a statement saying they would not seek compensation if they were injured or lost family members due to an eruption, said local community leader chief Susiadi, who also goes by a single name.

Indonesia has about 100 active volcanos, more than any nation.

The country is spread across 17,500 islands and is prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes because of its location on the so-called "Ring of Fire" — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

Five injured as Mandala Airlines 737 overshoots runway in Malang, Indonesia

A Mandala Airlines Boeing 737-200 has overshot the runway at Abdul Rachman Saleh Airport, East Java, Indonesia after a domestic flight from Jakarta. Five passengers were injured in the incident, none seriously.

The aircraft's nose landing gear is understood to have seperated in the incident, in which the aircraft skidded 260 feet from the end of the runway. Five of the 89 passengers and seven crew on board received cuts and bruises during the emergency evacuation that followed. It was raining heavily at the time, although it is not known if this is considered to have played a factor.

Airport official Suradi described the scene to Reuters via telephone: "The plane now lies abandoned on the runway ... Its head is slightly tilted down because the front wheel broke off.,"

The accident is currently under investigation. One potential cause being looked at is the fact that the forward landing gear axle is beleived to have snapped upon landing, setting off the chain of events.

The Indonesian aviation industry has been the subject of much criticism this year over safety concerns, sparked by a string of accidents including Adam Air 574, which crashed into the ocean, killing 102, Adam Air Flight 172, a nonfatal accident where a plane snapped in half, and Garuda Indonesia Flight 200, which overshot a runway at extreme speed, killing 21. All Indonesian airlines are on the list of air carriers banned in the EU, and the United States Federal Aviation Administration has downgraded Indonesia to it's lowest safety rating.

Mandala's only fatal accident was the crash of Mandala Airlines Flight 091 in 2005, which killed 112 people.

Plane Skids Off Runway in Indonesia

MALANG, Indonesia (AP) — A jetliner carrying 97 passengers and crew skidded off a rain-soaked runway at an airport on Indonesia's Java island Thursday, forcing an emergency evacuation in which five people received minor injuries, officials said.

The Boeing 737-200's front axle snapped during the landing in a downpour at Malang airport. The Mandala Airlines aircraft skidded and overshot the runway by 260 feet, air force spokesman Capt. Wahyudi said.

Five people suffered scrapes and bruises while exiting the plane, said Wahyudi, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

Officials at Mandala Airlines said the cause of the accident was being investigated.

A series of airline accidents in Indonesia killed more than 100 people early this year, prompting the European Union to blacklist all its airlines. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration also downgraded the nation's rating to its lowest category.

High alert at Indonesia volcano

More than 100,000 people have been evacuated from the slopes of one of Indonesia's deadliest volcanoes amid signs of an imminent eruption.
Mount Kelud in densely populated East Java has been rumbling for the past two weeks, with vulcanologists recording hundreds of deep tremors.

Authorities ordered an evacuation of a 10-kilometre danger zone around the mountain after alert levels were raised to maximum last month, but many residents never left or have since returned to their homes.

Some of those who refused to move out were asked to sign a statement saying they would not seek compensation funds if they were injured or lost family members due to an eruption.

In 1990, an eruption of Kelud killed more than 30 people and injured hundreds. An earlier eruption in 1919 destroyed dozens of villages and killed at least 5,160.

A senior government vulcanologist said the 1,731-metre volcano became active on Thursday, its crater lake bubbling and becoming the hottest since last month's high alert.

Umar Rosadi, part of a team of 16 scientists monitoring the peak, said the intensity and frequency of the Kelud's tremors had already exceeded those before the previous eruption in 1990.

"The activity of volcanic tremor is increasing," he said, adding that magma was 700 metres below the crater and could shoot out if it had enough energy.

Scientists fear that if the magma hits the water inside the crater lake, a giant explosion could occur, sending water, mud and ash careering down the side of the mountain.

Indonesia, which has around 100 active volcanoes spread across 17,500 islands, sits on a seismic belt known as the 'Pacific Rim of Fire' – a series of fault lines stretching from the western hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

Indonesian officials were also closely monitoring three other volcanoes for increased activity.

Danger zone

The second-highest alert has been issued for Mount Anak Krakatau, which sits in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands, and has been spewing ash for several days.

Saut Simatupang, of Indonesia's Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, said increased activity on Anak Krakatau posed a big danger and people have been advised to stay out of a three-kilometre danger zone.

Simatupang also warned that thousands were at risk in West Java from volcanic lahar on Mount Guntur as dams built to collect the material on the slopes start to overflow following heavy rains.

Lahar is a mixture of mud and volcanic lava.

"The volcano is active but there's no increased intensity. What we are concerned [with] is a possible flow of lahar from the dams," he said. "We already issued a recommendation for evacuation two weeks ago."

The 2,249-metre volcano, which lies 200km southeast of Jakarta, is popular with tourists for its hot springs and waterfalls.

Alerts have also been issued for Mount Soputan, in North Sulawesi, which erupted last week spewing columns of ash 1,000-metres high, and Mount Karangetang off the island.

Source:Aljazeera.net