Canada pulls out of Kyoto

Rob Gillies, The Associated Press, Toronto | Tue, 12/13/2011 10:10 AM

Canada's environment minister says the country is pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Peter Kent said Monday that Canada is invoking the legal right to withdraw.

Canada, joined by Japan and Russia, said last year it will not accept new Kyoto commitments, but renouncing the accord is another setback to the treaty concluded with much fanfare in 1997. No nation has formally renounced the protocol.

The protocol, initially adopted in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, is aimed at fighting global warming. Canada's previous Liberal government signed the accord but Prime Minister Stephen Harper Conservative government never embraced it.

Harper's Conservative government is reluctant to hurt Canada's booming oil sands sector.

Iranian fugitive recaptured in Lampung

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 12/12/2011 10:01 PM

Ali Akbar Faharani Huk, 27, an Iranian convict who escaped from the Tangerang Youth Penitentiary on Saturday, was recaptured in a police raid in Terusan Nyunyai district, Central Lampung regency, Lampung on Sunday evening.

Tangerang Police detective chief for general crimes Adj. Sr. Comr. Rahmat said Monday that Ali’s recapture had occurred when the district police, who were conducting a raid, stopped a Rama Trans, a minivan from Bandar Lampung heading for Palembang.

 “Officers who examined the minivan then found Ali inside. When officers asked for Ali’s identity, he claimed he was Mohamed, a tourist from Turkey on vacation in the country,” Rahmat said.    

However, officers did not believe his story and demanded he show his documentation.

When Ali failed to show his immigration documents, officers became suspicious and took Ali to the police station.

Ali escaped from the prison along with another Iranian convict, Mehrdad Ghaledar bin Mahdi.

Mehrdad was immediately recaptured, while Ali managed to evade police and went on the run.

Jakarta Police find 1,000 locations of rocky road

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 12/12/2011 10:00 PM

The Jakarta Police have discovered and recorded at least 1,000 different locations with damaged roads that can potentially cause traffic accidents.

“We’re still counting the number, but we have already found at least 1,000 locations of damaged roads,” City Police deputy director for traffic Adj. Sr. Comr. Wahyono said in Jakarta on Monday as quoted by Antara.

He said the number of traffic accidents caused by damaged roads amounted to 152 cases between Nov. 28 and Dec. 11 alone, during which time the police held its Operation Zebra Jaya.

He said the police would “analyze” the results they produced from the operation together with the City Public Works Agency and the City Transportation Agency.

According to police data, there are 426 locations of damaged roads in West Jakarta, 264 in South Jakarta, 98 in East Jakarta, 63 in North Jakarta and 159 in Central Jakarta.

The city administration has continually patched potholes, instead of permanently repairing the roads. Damaged roads, coupled with reckless driving, have led to a number of fatalities.

Hello ASEAN+3, good-bye Europe

Fithra Faisal Hastiadi, Tokyo | Tue, 12/13/2011 9:28 PM

A Distinguished Speakers Seminar (DSS) held by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in Tokyo in November came to the powerful conclusion that the European mess was getting messier.

As stated by Wyplosz (2011), since late 2009 the European debt crisis has not shown any sign of recovery.

For several reasons, apparently, the policy responses have been wrong. Wyplosz argues that the mother of all mistakes may lie in the policy options to provide ¤110 billion to save Greece through its tough austerity program.

There were two major flaws in this policy. First, it violates the no-bailout clause in the European Central Bank (ECB) system; and second, austerity in the midst of recession cannot act as a remedy.

These factors eventually led to a liquidity crisis that has overwhelmed the European banking system (Collignon, 2011).

Colloquially speaking, the liquidity shock caused a sudden deterioration in specific classes of assets that has spilled over into banks, which are in dire need of liquidity.

The liquidity shortage then put banks in distress as the deteriorating asset prices affected their balance sheets and thus reduced bank capital. These difficulties then spilled over into the real economy in the form of a recession. This recession will most likely see Europe sinking into irrelevance.

Meanwhile, ASEAN is fueled by a youthful spirit that could bring new hope during the current global imbalances. ASEAN members are becoming increasingly connected. The ASEAN region has experienced sustainable growth of intra-regional trade share. In 1990, the intra-regional trade share was only 17 percent but in 2010 the figure swelled to 25.2 percent.

If we expand the coverage to include ASEAN’s plus three countries (China, Japan and Korea), the intra-regional trade figure is becoming more robust.

In 1990, it already reached 47.2 percent and developed over a decade as it leapt to 58.4 percent.

The FTAs and EPAs that have been emerging since mid-2000 have had made a significant contribution to warming of relations among ASEAN+3 countries.

An important factor explaining the success of the ASEAN+3 economies has been their participation in a dynamic, regionally integrated economic structure beyond just ASEAN+3. Strong and dynamic production networks have progressively linked East Asian and ASEAN+3 countries.

The fragmentation of manufacturing production and “fragmented trade” linked to rising intra-industry trade has enabled ASEAN+3 countries to maintain their competitiveness and successfully pursue an export-led development strategy. ASEAN+3 countries have also developed robust, flexible and vibrant small and medium size enterprise (SME) sectors.

While this region has experienced two periods of economic crisis (late 1997 and late 2008), it did well in bouncing back afterward.

During the first crisis, the total ASEAN+3 intra-regional exports fell from US$179,732.1 million in 1997 to $146,166.3 million in 1998. Imports also declined from $186,630.5 million in 1997 to $141,979.3 million in 1998. This number contributed to an almost 3 percent decline of ASEAN+3’s intra-regional trade from 49.9 percent in 1997 to 47.2 percent in 1998. But in 1999 this bounced back well to 49 percent, followed by 51.4 percent in 2000. This figure gave a big boost to East Asian countries at that time to recover from the crisis.

The second crisis in late 2008 also caused regional trade imbalances in ASEAN+3 countries as the total exports and imports fell from $547,427.5 million and $518,966.8 million in 2008 to $450,665.6 million and $411,663.3 million in 2009.

But, again, the regional economy bounced back in 2010 to $630,089.6 million for exports and $609,465.3 million for imports. This bounce was also seen in the intra-regional trade share figure that experienced a hike from 55.8 percent in 2008 to 58.4 percent in 2010.

Comparing these two crisis periods, we can draw the general conclusion that East Asia has learned well in coping with crises. This is reflected by the speed of recovery in 2010 which was better than that of 1999. Also, the closer integration among the countries has created a vaccine-like treatment in the region.

Looking into the future, based on ADB projections, in 2030, per capita GDP in 2007 constant US dollars, will reach 9,012 for ASEAN, 12,361 for China, 40,415 for Japan and 41,674 for Korea.

These figures surely indicate a very optimistic path for the region in taking a powerful role globally, but in order to play that role the region, especially the ASEAN countries, must pay more attention to several crucial factors.

The first of these is infrastructure. The simulation result confirms the importance of infrastructure to create greater room for the region to evolve. The second is industrialization. A one point rise in the industrial index will most likely increase the tendency of economic growth by 0.04 percent. The third is population.

Population is regarded as the most important variable that serves as a foundation for strong growth. A 1 percent increase in the total population will increase the likelihood of regional growth by 0.86 percent.

The sheer size of the East Asian population creates not only the potential demand for the goods traded in the region but also the supply of labor and low absolute level of wages.

This trend is very important since homogeneity in industrialization among countries in the region will assist the progress of economic integration, and thus economic growth.

To wrap up, ASEAN+3 countries should ensure countries within this region that are lagging behind to eventually catch up with the rest.

Sound policy measures that incorporate the expansion of production networks should be set as a common goal for the future of this region. Whether ASEAN+3 moves forward or ends the story like the Europeans is a matter of political will.

The writer is research associate at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Tokyo. The opinions expressed are his own.

Bring F1 to Indonesia: IMI chairman candidate

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 12/13/2011 10:18 AM

Off track: In this Sept. 24 file photo, Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi of Japan loses a control prior to a crash on the wall during the qualifying session for a Singapore Formula One Grand Prix on the Marina Bay City Circuit in Singapore. (AP/Terence Tan)

One person running to be the Indonesian Motorsports Association’s (IMI) next chairman says he wants to bring Formula 1 racing to the nation.

“If Malaysia and Singapore can do it, why can’t we? Even though this is just my dream, I’ll work very hard to make it happen,” National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen Nanan Soekarna said on Monday in a press statement as quoted by tempo.co.

Nanan, who if elected would join a long line of senior police and military officers heading national athletic organizations, said he wanted to bring all automotive sports under IMI up to the international level.

"We have potential racers. IMI will support them to race outside Indonesia,” Nanan said, adding that he would involve the government, sole-authorized agents (ATPM) and other relevant parties to support the move.

IMI is set to appoint a new chairman at its national meeting later this week in Surakarta, Central Java.

Nanan is competing with Army Lt. Gen. Hotma Mangaradja Panjaitan and businessmen Adiguna Sutowo, Benny Laos, Sadikin Aksa and Johny Pramono to replace the current IMI chairman, Ari Batubara.

Hezbollah identifies undercover CIA officers

Adam Goldman, Associated Press, Washington | Tue, 12/13/2011 8:41 AM

The militant group Hezbollah has revealed the identities of CIA officers working undercover in Lebanon, a blow to agency operations in the region and the latest salvo in an escalating spy war.

Hezbollah made the names public in a broadcast Friday night on a Lebanese television station, al-Manar. Using animated videos, the station recreated meetings purported to have taken place between CIA officers and paid informants at Starbucks and Pizza Hut.

Former and current U.S. intelligence officials say the disclosure comes after Hezbollah managed to partially unravel the agency's spy network in Lebanon after running a double agent. In June, Hezbollah said it had caught at least two spies working for the CIA.

A CIA spokeswoman calls the latest Hezbollah claims "spurious" and says al-Manar is the group's "propaganda arm."

Miranda banned from traveling overseas

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 12/12/2011 9:22 PM

The Law and Human Rights Ministry issued on Monday a travel ban for Miranda S. Goeltom in relation to a bribery case centering on her election as Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor several years ago.

“Starting from tonight, at the request of the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK], a travel ban for Miranda S. Goeltom has been issued,” Law and Human Right Deputy Minister Denny Indrayana said as quoted by tempo.com.

The travel ban was necessary to the cooperation between the KPK and the Law and Human Rights Ministry on corruption eradication, he added.

Nunun transferred to Kramat Jati Police Hospital

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 12/12/2011 9:28 PM

Graft suspect Nunun Nurbaeti was transferred to Kramat Jati Police Hospital from MMC Hospital on Monday evening to receive further medical treatment.

“Her [Nunun's] blood pressure is pretty high, thus we transferred her to Kramat Jati Police Hospital,” Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesman Johan Budi said as quoted by tempo.com.

Nunun was being questioned by the KPK on Monday, but after just one hour of questioning she complained about a headache and said she felt feint.

She is the key witness in a bribery case in Miranda S. Goeltom's election as Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor several years ago.

Revealing the Nunun enigma, unraveling major graft cases

Donny Syofyan, Padang | Tue, 12/13/2011 9:28 PM

Nunun Nurbaeti was arrested on Friday afternoon in Bangkok, Thailand. She arrived in Indonesia and has been undergoing health checks prior to questioning about her connection to the Bank Indonesia vote-buying scandal in the House.

Nunun was accused of distributing bribes to lawmakers to back Miranda S. Goeltom’s bid to be a senior deputy governor position at the central bank.

While several lawmakers have been locked up in the case, Nunun, the key suspect, fled to Singapore just before the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) issued a travel ban against her. She later reportedly traveled to Cambodia before settling down in Bangkok, Thailand.

Nunun presents us with an enigma. She frequently claimed that she went abroad for medical treatment. Her husband, Adang Daradjatun, kept her location secret. But examining the enigma may have value.

First, the war on corruption shows growing progress after Nunun’s capture. Nunun was not the first graft suspect arrested by Interpol agents abroad. The former treasurer of the Democratic Party, Muhammad Nazaruddin, was arrested by Interpol agents in Colombia and returned to Indonesia.

It is a coincidence Nunun that was nabbed not long after the commemoration of World Anticorruption Day on Dec. 9?

It looks like the arrest of Nunun in Thailand is a gift for the nation’s anticorruption campaign.

The number of corruption scandals that the KPK is tackling, mainly the Nazaruddin and Nunun cases, should be seen as a blessing in disguise.

At first the situation seems bad, not only owing to the KPK’s heavy workload, but also due to public expectations about the nation’s anti-graft body.

It turns out that no one is untouchable and infamous long-time graft suspects — Nazaruddin, Nunun and even Miranda Goeltom, who was linked to Nunun — eventually received lengthy prison terms.

Expectations for the nation’s graft fight are increasing after the arrest of Nunun. It is now the turn of the KPK to uncover the vicious circle of corruption suspects, particularly those involving politicians and business tycoons.

The arrest of Nunun will not be a great success story if the KPK loses track of high-profile corruption suspects and their mighty political financiers. The KPK did the right thing by detaining the politicians. However, it should not just focus on those who allegedly accepted the bribes, but also on those who paid them.

Second, the arrest of Nunun is supposed to consolidate the country’s political elite against corruption as a common enemy. There must be consistent social engineering to treat corrupt officials, politicians, or businesspeople as persona non grata. Lawmakers could apply the approach by expelling corrupt suspects within their own political parties and circles.

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) could kick things off by urging PKS lawmaker Adang Daradjatun, Nunun’s husband, to step down from the House. This should be seen as one way of penalizing crooked legislators.

At the same time, the National Police needs to stay impartial to probe deep into the alleged involvement of Adang, the former deputy chief of the National Police, with his wife’s case.

While he claimed that his wife was too ill to walk, people have been shocked to look at photographs showing her shopping at malls in Singapore and Thailand. The police along with the KPK must be more serious in upholding justice, especially when the culprits are powerful people.

The public is entitled to maximum transparency in the Nunun’s case. People seem to be no longer tolerant of the presumption of innocence for Nunun.

Anything coming out from her mouth to defend herself should be deemed unreliable and ignored. Transparency could be defined as placing society as critical partners to prevent the issue from diverting any further.

Third, the KPK is very likely to face a political counterattack. Some lawmakers could revive their bid to invoke the right of lawmakers to express an opinion on the Bank Century bailout scandal, which could ultimately lead to impeachment proceedings against Vice President Boediono, who was the central bank governor at the time of the controversial Rp 6.7 trillion bailout.

Other legislators could strike back through various policies relating to the KPK, such as limiting the allocation of funds regardless of extensive public support for the new KPK leaders.

Hence, the new KPK leadership is expected not to be torn about breaking open a major criminal case that could involve their friends or former superiors.

Despite large powers protecting Nunun with robust financial means, her arrest suggests that the integrated mechanism and strategy to hunt for and deal with graft suspects is setting the scene for victory for Indonesia’s graft busters in a long war on corruption.

The writer, a graduate of the University of Canberra, Australia, is a lecturer at Andalas University in Padang, West Sumatra.

Richard Marx, Arie Lasso to perform on Saturday

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/06/2011 12:14 PM

Veteran world class musician Richard Marx will perform in Gandaria City, Jakarta, this Saturday, with prominent local vocalist Arie Lasso in the opening act.

The concert, part of the Richard Marx World Tour 2011 to promote his latest album, Stories to Tell, is organized by Big Daddy. Tickets for the show are priced between Rp 350,000 (about US$40) and Rp 1.5 million, kapanlagi.com reports.

Marx, who is known as a singer, song writer, musician and producer,has released a number of hit singles such as Endless Summer Nights,Right Here Waiting, Now and Forever and Hazard. He wrote songs for NSYNC, including This I Promise You, while his song,Dance With My Father, which was written for Luther Vandross, won a Grammy Award.

Railway operator prepares extra trains for holidays

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 12/06/2011 12:48 PM

State railway operator PT KA regional office (Daop II) in Bandung has prepared additional trains to anticipate the soaring number of passengers during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

“We will increase the frequency of trains and add more cars in each train," PT KA Daop II spokesperson Bambang Setya Prayitno said in Bandung, West Java, on Tuesday as quoted by Antara news wire.

Bambang estimated that the number of passengers would rise by 30 percent at the year end in all executive and economy classes.

Bambang said 35 percent of tickets for Dec.23 to Dec.31 had already been reserved, with 50 percent of tickets for Dec. 23 and Dec. 24 already booked.

“The tickets can be reserved 40 days prior to the departure and we don’t require tickets for standing passengers,” he said.

Baby girl found in dustbin

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/06/2011 12:55 PM

A newborn baby girl was found in a dustbin in front of a house at the Rimba Mulya housing complex in Pasir Mulya subdistrict, West Bogor, on Tuesday morning.

She was found alive with her umbilical cord still attached and sent to the Marzuki

Mahdi hospital, Adj.Comr. Hida TJ, head of West Bogor police, said as quoted by kompas.com.

He said that police and local authorities were investigating the case, checking on women in the area who were recently pregnant.

BORR toll fee increases

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/06/2011 9:47 AM

The Bogor Outer Ring Road (BORR) toll fee has increased by between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000 as of Tuesday.

Spokesman for the toll road management PT Marga Sarana Jabar, Drajat,said on Tuesday morning that traffic had so far remained normal,antaranews.com reported.

The current toll fee is between Rp 3,500 and Rp 10,000, depending on the type of vehicle.

The 3.8 km toll road connects South Sentul and Kedung Halang.

RI, Germany join forces in forestry research

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/06/2011 11:09 AM

The Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and two universities in Indonesia have built a partnership in forestry research with the University of Goettingen in Germany.

Rector of the institute, Herry Suhardiyanto, said that they will conduct research on the ecology and socio-economy function of the transformation system of tropical rain forest in low land in Jambi,Sumatra, antaranews.com reported.

He said at the conference on Strengthening Forestry Science and Technology for Better Forestry Development in IPB on Monday that theproject, which involves the University of Jambi and the University of Tadulako in Palu, would be funded by the German Research Foundation for four years, 2012-2016.

They also plan to develop a conservation program for Siberut in Siberut Island, West Sumatra, focusing on the conservation of the biodiversity and sustainable utilization of agriculture land and forest areas.

Legislators travel abroad for comparative studies

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/06/2011 9:53 AM

At least four groups of House of Representatives (DPR) members are traveling abroad this month for what they claim are “comparative studies”.

They are from the special committee for the bill on social conflict management, the Legislation Body, the Agriculture Commission and the Manpower Commission, tempo.co reported on Tuesday.

Deputy Chairperson of the special committee for the bill on social conflict management, Eva Kusuma Sundari, said two teams of the committee were traveling to Sweden and India respectively, each team consisting of seven House members and two staffers. They left on Dec. 3 and would return on Dec. 9.

“We will report the results of our studies to the public,” she said.

Deputy Chairperson for the Legislation Body, Ida Fauziah, said that 11 members in charge of the bill for drug and food control had left for China for a comparative study and would return on Dec. 9.

The Agriculture Commission conducted comparative studies in the United States, Japan, China and India. They left at the end of last month and are scheduled to return home today. Their trips are in relation to the deliberation of the food bill and the bill on farmers’ protection and empowerment.

“The comparative studies are very important because of, among other things,tariff systems, protection, farmers’ financial institutions,subsidies, promotion, agriculture insurance and food institutions,”Herman Khaeron, Deputy Chairperson of the Commission from Democratic

Party said.

As for the Manpower Commission, they are traveling to South Korea and Hong Kong. They are in South Korea regarding the deliberation of the revision of the Law for the Replacement and Protection of Indonesian

Migrant Workers. “On our way back home, we will drop off in Hong Kong to find out the conditions of Indonesian migrant workers there,” said Rieke Dyah Pitaloka from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

SBY’s expectations have yet to be met

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/06/2011 10:40 AM

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s expectations regarding his cabinet ministers have not been met, his staff said on Tuesday.

Zaenal A Budiyono, assistant to the President’s special staff said that the ministers had missed targets that had initially been set by the President, kompas.com reported.

The President warned the ministers to work all out and meet their targets.

SBY had earlier told the ministers to be more responsive toward current issues and to improve their communication with the public,being pro-active in explaining to the media about any much-talked about problems.

Mahfud urges PPATK to publish list of civil servant graft suspects

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/06/2011 3:24 PM

Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD has requested that the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) disclose the names of all civil servants who have suspiciously large bank accounts.

“The PPATK cannot be vague about this. The list of names should be reported,” he said Tuesday as quoted by tempo.com.

He said that it was not impossible for civil servants to become rich. However, he added, it was strange for third- and fourth-class civil servants to possess wealth worth hundreds of billions of Rupiah.

Mahfud blamed the troublesome bureaucratic system, which he said paved the way for corruption among civil servants and enabled them to accumulate ridiculous amounts of wealth.

He said that it was essential that the PPATK also disclose the sources of the money to identify whether they were legal or illegal.

“This is important for corruption eradication,” he said.

The PPATK previously announced that 50 percent of young civil servants are indicated to have committed corruption. It cited the civil servants’ lifestyle, possession of luxurious goods and fat bank accounts. Corruption methods used included transferring state budget funds to personal bank accounts, creating fictitious projects, gratuity and bribery.

High school girl arrested for sex trade

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 12/06/2011 9:50 AM

A high school girl has been arrested by the Batam police for allegedly acting as a pimp for almost 50 other girls.

Identified as Mona, the 17-year-old girl, who is in her third year of senior high school, is believed to have arranged clients for many of her friends, including university students, tribunenews.com.

The suspect, now being detained at the Barelang police resort, kept the data and photos of the girls, including their price, in her Blackberry, police said.

Indonesia ratifies global ban on nuclear tests

Associated Press, Jakarta | Tue, 12/06/2011 2:30 PM

Indonesia says it has ratified a global treaty banning nuclear test explosions.

Negotiated in the 1990s, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty specified that the 44 countries with nuclear power or research reactors at the time needed to give formal approval before it could take effect.

With the endorsement Tuesday by Indonesia's parliament, the treaty is now only awaiting ratification from the United States, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan.

Indonesian lawmaker Mahfudz Siddiq urged the remaining countries - especially the U.S. and Israel - to get off the bench and sign.

Indonesia, a nation of 240 million, has three research atomic reactors.

Baduy people demand Sunda Wiwitan acknowledged as religion

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 11/29/2011 9:58 PM

The Baduy people in Lebak subdistrict, Banten, have called on the government to acknowledge their religion, Sunda Wiwitan, by allowing them to put it on their ID cards.

“We hope that the government will acknowledge our religion, Sunda Wiwitan,” Baduy community leader Dainah said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

Indonesia only acknowledges six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

Dainah said that the Baduy community members were disappointed when the Lebak administration did not allow them to put Sunda Religion on their ID cards, saying that it would be illegal.

“We are also Indonesians. We should have the same rights as other Indonesians,” he said.

According to Dainah, the government once allowed them to put their religion on ID cards from 1972 to 2010. Since then, Baduy people had been leaving the religion column on their ID cards empty.

Of 2,830 Baduy families only a few had ID cards because of the inconvenience, Dainah said.

Dainah said that 130 people had processed ID cards this year, up from 20 people last year.

He said most Baduy people, who clung to traditional and tribal values, thought ID cards were unimportant.

UK economic forecast downgraded

Associated Press, London | Tue, 11/29/2011 8:55 PM

The British government has revealed a gloomier outlook about the economy, but says the pain will be much worse if eurozone countries do not solve their sovereign debt crisis.

Treasury chief George Osborne said Tuesday that the Office for Budget Responsibility expects Britain's GDP to grow by 0.9 percent this year, down from its March forecast of 1.7 percent.

For next year, the OBR predicts growth of 0.7 percent, sharply down from the 2.5 percent prediction in March.

Osborne told Britain's House of Commons that the forecast assumes there will be a solution of the eurozone turmoil.

"A more disorderly outcome is clearly possible," the budget office said.

"Even though we believe there is an equal chance that growth will come in above or below our central forecast, the probability of a much worse outcome than the central forecast is greater than the probability of a much better one," the OBR added.

The Treasury chief said he still expects to meet his deficit-reduction target by 2015.

The British forecast was more optimistic than Monday's update from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, which predicted that Britain was sliding into a mild recession which would continue through the first three months of next year.

Osborne appealed to unions representing 2 million public sector workers to cancel a one-day strike set for Wednesday.

"Call off the strikes tomorrow. Come back to the table," Osborne appealed to the unions, which are angry about proposed changes to pensions.

Osborne stressed that Britain is, to a great extent, at the mercy of developments on the continent.

"Much of Europe now appears to be heading into a recession caused by a chronic lack of confidence in the ability of countries to deal with their debts," Osborne said. "We will do whatever it takes to protect Britain from this debt storm while doing all we can to build the foundations of future growth."

Osborne announced he was raising the bank levy - charged against the balance sheets of major banks - from 0.075 percent to 0.088 percent - but he repeated his opposition to a tax on financial transactions, calling that "a tax on pensions."

As previously announced, he committed 20 billion pounds ($31 billion) to a program to guarantee bank loans to small- and medium-sized businesses. The guarantee applies to banks' wholesale borrowing to fund business loans; banks would still have to absorb any losses from bad loans.

Osborne announced that the government has authorized 35 job-creating rail and road infrastructure projects, and there were modest increases in state pensions and some benefits.

A pay freeze for public sector workers will be replaced by a 1 percent cap, half as generous as government departments had assumed, a 3 pence per liter tax on petrol due in January was canceled, and Osborne limited how much rail fares can increase.

Policeman removed from post due to BlackBerry stampede

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 11/29/2011 9:26 PM

Kebayoran Baru Police intelligence unit head Adj. Comr. S. was removed from his post, as he was considered responsible for a stampede during a BlackBerry promotional event that injured dozens of people.

“We have moved him to the South Jakarta Police Office and we are now looking for his replacement,” South Jakarta Police Chief Sr. Comr. Imam Sugianto said on Tuesday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

He said that the officer was negligent in securing the event after giving the permit to the event despite incomplete documents.

“He is not suspended but shifted due to his unit’s negligence. He is now a non-job officer until the case investigation is finished,” said Imam.