Mouse heart 're-grows when cut', study shows

BBC News, by Neil Bowdler, Science reporter, 25 February 2011

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Scientists in the United States have found newborn mice can re-grow their own hearts.

The study suggests newborn mice share the
zebrafish's ability to heal a damaged heart

The mice had a large chunk of their heart removed a day after birth, only for the heart to restore itself within three weeks.

Fish and amphibians are known to have the power to re-grow heart tissue, but the study in Science is the first time the process has been seen in mammals.

British experts said understanding the process could help human heart care.

Narrow window

The researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center surgically removed what is known as the left ventricular apex of the heart (about 15% of the heart muscle) from mice just a day after birth.

The heart was then quickly seen to regenerate and was fully restored after 21 days. After two months, the organ still appeared to be functioning normally.

But when the same procedure was tested on mice aged one week, the heart failed to regenerate, suggesting this power of self-repair is extremely short-lived in mice.

The belief is that heart cells within the mouse have a narrow window after birth within which they can continue to replicate and repair. Subsequent tests suggested that these repair cells were coming from within the heart muscle.

"What our results show are that the new heart muscle cells which repair the amputated region of the heart came from proliferation and migration of pre-existing heart muscle cells," said Professor Eric Olson, who worked on the study.

"We have no evidence they came from a stem-cell population."

Many amphibians and fish, most famously the zebrafish, have the ability to renew heart muscle right into adulthood.

This new study suggests mammals too have such capacity for self-repair, if only for a limited time after birth.

Professor Olson believes future research will show humans have a similar capacity, although no experiments involving human heart tissue are currently planned.

"There's no reason to believe that the same window would not exist in the human heart.

"Everything we know about development and early function of the mouse heart is comparable to the human heart so we're quite confident that this process does exist in humans, although that of course still has to be shown."

Heart attacks

The team's focus is now on looking at ways to "re-awaken" this capacity to self repair in adult mice, with the ultimate ambition to do the same in humans to repair damage sustained during heart attacks.

"We've identified a micro-RNA (a small piece of genetic material) which regulates this process so we're tying to use that as a way of further enhancing cardiac regeneration later in life and we're also screening for new drugs which can re-awaken this mechanism in adult mice," he said.

Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said the study showed heart regeneration was not the exclusive preserve of zebrafish and newts, but said more work needed to be done to understand what was actually going on inside the healing heart.

"This exciting research shows for the first time that young mice, like fish and amphibians, can heal their damaged hearts," he said. "It strengthens the view that understanding how this happens could provide the key to healing adult human hearts."

Professor Olson concedes there will be problems ahead. What works in the low-pressured heart of a zebrafish, might not work in the high-pressured multi-chambered heart of humans.

Meddling with heart muscle cells could, for instance, trigger arrhythmias in the heart, he said.

Related Article:

“How do you create a new cellular tissue pattern? You change its magnetic structure. There are systemic instructions you can give your cellular structure to build new tissue that was never there before. I've told you this many times in the past and here it is again. There'll come a day when you can grow back an arm and a leg. How? All you have to do is to give DNA new systemic instructions. The old instructions tell it to only accomplish this in the womb. Change the instructions!” Read more ….. DNA Layer Nine - The Healing Layer - May 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

Ministries Agree to Intensify Seaweed Cultivation in Least Developed Regions

Antara News, Sat, February 26 2011

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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Six ministries have agreed to intensify cultivation and production of seaweed as part of efforts to boost the economies of seven least developed provinces, an official said.

"The Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry will intensify production of seaweed in cooperation with five other ministries, namely the Least Regional Development Ministry, the Industry Ministry, the Trade Ministry, the Cooperatives and Small-Medium-Scale Ministry and the Investment Coordinating Board," Head of the marine affairs and fisheries ministry`s statistical data and information division said in a press statement here, Friday.

The joint agreement among the six ministries was aimed at accelerating the economic development of the people in the disadvantaged regions in seven provinces - namely South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Maluku, North Maluku, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

The agreement included activities in training, assistance, technical guidance, business sector development, the creation of conducive business climate, the promotion facility promotion, and the seaweed cultivation marketing domestically and overseas.

The cooperation in the seaweed cultivation in the seven provinces would be effective for four years.

According to the ministry`s data, the seaweed production in 2010 reached 3.082 million tons, up from 2.574 million tons in 2009.

The productions from 2011 to 2014 are expected to reach 3.504 million tons, 5.1 million tons, 7.5 million tons, and 10 million tons respectively.

Indonesia is striving to produce 10 million tons of seaweed per by 2015, making it the number one producing country, replacing the Philippines.

Minister Fadel Muhammad said when speaking in the Third Seaweed International Business Forum and Exhibition (Seabfex) in Surabaya, East Java, July 2010 that in the next two years the target might partly be achieved especially in view of the vast seaweed cultivating grounds in Indonesia`s eastern parts, like East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Maluku, and North Maluku.

Editor: AA Ariwibowo

Baby dolphins dying along oil-soaked US gulf coast

Antara News, Wed, February 23 2011

Gulfport, Mississippi (ANTARA News/AFP) - Baby dolphins are washing up dead along the oil-soaked US Gulf Coast at more than 10 times the normal rate in the first birthing season since the BP disaster, researchers said.

Some 17 baby dolphin corpses have been found along the shorelines of Alabama and Mississippi in the past two weeks, The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies said.

"The average is one or two a month. This year we have 17, and February isn`t even over yet," said Moby Solangi, director of the Gulfport, Mississippi-based institute.

"For some reason, they`ve started aborting or they were dead before they were born."

Solangi is awaiting results from a necropsy performed on two of the dolphins Monday to determine a cause of death.

But he called the high numbers an anomaly and said the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which unleashed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over three months, likely played a role.

Adult dolphin deaths tripled last year to 89 from a norm of about 30.

"We shouldn`t really jump to any conclusions until we get some results," Solangi said. "But this is more than just a coincidence."

Dolphins breed in the spring -- around the time of the April 20 explosion that brought down the BP-leased drilling rig -- and carry their young for 11 to 12 months.

Birthing season goes into full swing in March and April.

The oil from the spill spread through the water column in massive underwater plumes and also worked its way into the bays and shallow waters where dolphins breed and give birth.

Editor: Priyambodo

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Dead dolphin toll rises to 60 on Gulf Coast

Tidal waves destroy hundreds of houses in C Sulawesi

Antara News, Tue, February 22 2011

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Palu, C Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Around 150 houses in Buol district, Central Sulawesi, have been destroyed by tidal waves in the past two days.

Buol district legislative assembly (DPRD) spokesman Ahmad Andi Makka said here on Tuesday that the coastal residents whose houses were destroyed had been evacuated to safer areas.

"The people whose houses were destroyed have started to evacuate," Andi Makka said, adding that the tidal waves have beating upon the coastal area of Buol district for the past two days but there was no immediate information about fatality and the amount of material loss.

He said the coastal area at Buol district was repeatedly hit by tidal waves every year but this time was the worst.

Andi Makka said that the people at the tidal wave prone area would be relocated to safer areas.

"Last year the local government cleared a land for the relocation of the people living at tidal wave prone area, and this year some 150 houses will be built there with a budget of Rp3 billion," he added.

Editor: Priyambodo

100 stranded whales die on Stewart Island

The Southland Times, SAM MCKNIGHT, 21/02/2011

More than 100 pilot whales are dead after a stranding on Stewart Island.

A pod of 107 whales was found beached at
Mason Bay on the island by two tourists
on Saturday.

A pod of 107 whales was found beached at Mason Bay on the island by two tourists on Saturday.

The pair, who had tramped into Mason Bay hut on the west coast of the island on Saturday, found the pod dead and dying at the southern end of the beach near Cavalier Creek.

It was the next day before they could raise the alarm via the hut ranger at Mason Bay hut.

Two Department of Conservation staff immediately flew to the beach yesterday to assess the situation.

Once there, they found the whales in water but stranded high up on the beach with the tide just starting to recede.

Department biodiversity programme manager Brent Beaven said about half of the whales were still alive on arrival and the decision was made to euthanise the remaining 48.

It would have been at least 10 to 12 hours before any attempt could be made to refloat them, Mr Beaven said.

Halong Bay tourists dead as Vietnam boat sinks

BBC News, 17 February 2011

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At least 11 tourists and a guide have drowned after a tour boat sank in Halong Bay in northeastern Vietnam.

Halong Bay is a popular tourist area and a
World Heritage Site

The boat was touring in the picturesque Unesco World Heritage Site in Quang Ninh province when it went down.

At least 21 foreign tourists were on the live-aboard boat when it sank before dawn near Titov island.

Vietnamese media quoted a provincial vice-governor as saying the tourists on board were from the US, the UK, France, Russia, Denmark and Sweden.

"So far the rescue team has rescued 15 people, including nine foreign tourists and six crew, and pulled out 12 bodies," Ngo Van Hung, director of the Halong Bay Management Department, told Reuters by telephone.

All of the bodies have been sent to Bai Chay Hospital for identification.

A hospital manager said the survivors were "in panic" but had now returned to their hotels.

Vu Van Thin, a senior official with the Quang Ninh province People's Committee, the local government told reporters that bad weather did not cause the sinking.

"According to our initial information part of the boat suddenly broke," he said.

The boat carried two Vietnamese tourists, one of whom is believed to have died.

Halong Bay, whose name translates as "Descending Dragon Bay", is renowned for its limestone karsts and isles.

Tourists often stay overnight on boats touring the hundreds of islets scattered throughout the scenic bay.

Japan halts whale hunt after chase by protesters

BBC News, 16 February 2011

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Japan has suspended its annual Antarctic whale hunt following protests from a campaign group.

The Sea Shepherd group's vessel (r) blocked the
main Japanese ship's loading bay

Activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a US-based environmental group, have been chasing the Japanese fleet's mother ship.

An official at the country's fisheries agency said whaling had been halted "for now" because of safety concerns.

Commercial whaling was banned in 1986 but Japan uses a regulation permitting hunting for scientific research.

Iceland and Norway have lodged official objections to the ban and continue to hunt commercially.

'Unjustified interference'

It is unclear whether the entire hunt will be called off.

"Putting safety as a priority, the fleet has halted scientific whaling for now. We are currently considering what to do hereafter," Tatsuya Nakaoku, an official at the fisheries agency, told Reuters news agency.

Activists' ships have been harrying the fleet for weeks.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society says one of its boats has been blocking the main ship's stern loading ramp, preventing any harpooned whales from being loaded on to the ship.

According to the environmentalists, in recent days the whalers have left their usual hunting ground off Antarctica and headed towards the southern tip of South America.

Japan's fleet comprises of 180 people on four ships, which aim to cull some 850 minke whales in Antarctic waters during the southern winter season.

"Every whale saved is a victory to us, so we've gotten a lot of victories down here this year," Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson told the AFP news agency by satellite phone from the Steve Irwin ship.

Commercial whaling has been banned worldwide since 1986.

Japan says it continues to hunt for scientific research, while not concealing the fact that much of the meat ends up on dinner plates, the BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo reports.

Few Japanese eat whale regularly, but many object to what they see as unjustified foreign interference in a cultural tradition, our correspondent adds.

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Oil slick beaches fishermen

The Jakarta Post, Mon, 02/14/2011

An oil slick, reportedly from a vessel bearing a Singaporean flag, has stopped at least 300 fishermen from going out to sea in Tanjung Berakit,  Bintan, Riau Islands, an official says.

Bintan Environmental Impact Management Agency head Karya Hermawan told tempointeraktif.com Monday that he was not sure if it was sludge from the ship’s engine or oil from another source. The oil has damaged fishermen’s fishing gear, he said.

 The oil had spread up to six kilometers along Padang Lamun Beach, he said.

He said the oil came from a tanker during a cleanup of the vessel and was dumped at night when the north wind was blowing toward Batam. Bintan and Tanjung Pinang.

The agency conducted a cleanup, putting the oil in sacks, in an attempt to prevent the oil from spreading, he said, adding that an investigation was under way.

A fisherman said the pollution became apparent in the wee hours of Saturday. He recalled that sacks containing similar black oil had been found in the water several years ago.

Giant sea turtle found in Bengkulu lake

The Jakarta Post, Mon, 02/14/2011

A rare endangered giant leatherback sea turtle with a shell two meters in diameter and weighing hundreds of kilograms has been found in Langut lake, Bengkulu, an activist says.

Locally called penyu belimbing, the turtle was found on Sunday night at the turtle conservation area in Retak Ilir village, Muko-muko regency, Turtle Conservation secretary Khairul Amra said in Bengkulu on Monday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com news portal.

A total of 65 eggs thought to have been laid by the turtle were also found nearby, he said, in addition to 112 eggs previously discovered.

Khairul said that it was the third giant leatherback turtle that was found in the conservation area this month.

The turtles, which could live dozens of years, would be released to the sea while the eggs would be hatched, he said.

"It will be the first time for us to carry out the hatching process. Hopefully it will work," he said.

Local Natural Resources Conservation Agency head Amon Zamora said that he had not received any report about the findings but the agency would support efforts to hatch the eggs.

Leatherback turtles were a protected species at the brink of extinction, according to Amon.

More fund for people`s empowerment in outermost islands

Antara News, Sun, February 13, 2011

Karimun, Riau islands province (ANTARA News) - Riau Islands province has received an allocation of 232 billion rupiah (approximately 26 million US dollars) for poverty eradication and empowerment of people living in outermost islands bordering with other countries.

"The 232 billion rupiah had been included in the budget of regencies and town of Riau Island province for poverty eradication and empowerment of the people living in outermost islands," Riau Islands Governor H.M. Sani said in Tanjung Balai Karimun on Sunday.

Sani said that the budget was for the implementation of various programs such as rehabilitation of damaged houses, seaweed cultivation, construction of educational and health facilities and infrastructure facilities for supporting the improvement of the rural economy.

"We hope that every regency and town will cooperate in supporting the concept that we will be launched this year. We hoped this concept will narrow the development gap between the towns and the outlying islands," he said.

The key in the concept of the programs, according to the governor, will be the provision of incentives for fishermen and the development of seaweed cultivation. Seaweed has been selected as a prioritized commodity as it originated from the waters of the province.

Former Marine Affairs and Fishery Minister Rokhmin Dahuri, an expert in marine resources development, was said to be included in the expert team to support the seaweed cultivation program.

Sani added that the concept for the empowerment of people living in outermost islands in the province was in line with the national program launched by the central government. Therefore he expected that the central government would soon approve the special fund allocation he had submitted to Jakarta.

In addition, Riau Island province will set up a border board which will handle the development programs and people empowerment in the border areas.

Editor: Ruslan

President Supports Sail Komodo 2013

Antara News, Sat, February 12 2011 

Kupang, NTT (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has expressed support to East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) provincial government plan to host Sail Komodo 2013.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. (ANTARA)

"I have reported the provincial government plan to host Sail Komodo 2013 to President Yudhoyono and the head of state said he would fully support such an international marine event," NTT Governor Frans Lebu Raya said here on Saturday.

The governor said President Yudhoyono has asked the local government to plan and promote the event as well as possible in advance.

"Bapak President wants us to plan it better like Sail Banda 2010 which ran successfully because of better plan and vigorous promotions," the governor said.

He said Sail Komodo was intended to introduce komodo to international community and to support tourism in East Nusa Tenggara.

According to the governor, the Sail Komodo event had been proposed to Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.

Frans expressed hope that the proposal would be approved by the ministry this year so that the event could be realized in an effort to preserve the endangered giant lizard in Komodo island.

Editor: Ruslan

Rotterdam mayor in Jakarta to help

RNW, 8 February 2011, By Michel Maas

(Photo: RNW/Michel Maas)

The Mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb, is visiting the Indonesian capital Jakarta. The two cities have signed a cooperation agreement for water management, but can Rotterdam's good intentions overcome the enormous problems facing the Indonesian port?

The mayor and his entourage are watching a small dredger pushing a mountain of thick black sludge and unidentifiable waste in front of it. A bucket scoops sludge from the water. The show is part of a project which doesn't seem to be making much impact. So much rubbish has accumulated under the bridge on which the bucket grab is standing that a dam has been created.

The dredging project is one of those in which Rotterdam is involved. It's not making any headway because there is no budget. Apparently that often doesn't appear until halfway through the year. No one in the mayor's group understands how this can be possible, but it seems that's the way things work here: Jakarta can do nothing without the government, the city services can do nothing without a budget. "The system needs to change" remarks Mayor Aboutaleb, but there is nothing Rotterdam can do to help with that.

Dry feet

The mayor has just signed an agreement under which Rotterdam is committed to work with Jakarta on water management. "Rotterdam can do a lot for Jakarta. We have a great deal of expertise with water." And expertise is much needed in Jakarta.

Mayor Aboutaleb is given a tour of the northern area, where the city meets the sea. The ground is visibly sinking: at the rate of seven centimetres a year. It won't be long before large parts of the city are under water.

He compares the situation with the Netherlands of 1953: after the flood everyone in Rotterdam was persuaded of the need for good seawalls. "Dry feet are a must. I see people in Jakarta are now aware of that. Dry feet are topic number one!"

Brick wall

The dredgers are part of the dry feet initiative. They will be used to clear out Jakarta's choked up canals and ditches in order to solve another water problem. Every rainy season parts of the city are flooded because there is nowhere for the water to go.

There are no seawalls to be seen and the dredgers stop working as soon as the mayor and his entourage are back on the coach. Ahmed Aboutaleb sighs "sometimes I have the feeling I'm up against a brick wall". Two days in Jakarta and the mayor seems close to despair already.

Then there is Jakarta's massive traffic problem. With no public transport and a desperate lack of roads, the city is in danger of coming to a complete standstill. On Sunday the mayor had an opportunity to spend plenty of time in a weekend traffic jam himself.

Religious background

But Aboutaleb is adamant: "Rotterdam can do a lot for Jakarta". Jakarta's governor, Fauzi Bowo, acknowledges that. Rotterdam is giving his officials training courses and Rotterdam is also giving Jakarta a foot in the door in the Netherlands, in Europe if you look at the broader picture. "We can't finance our projects ourselves. But we can talk to the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the European Union." He may not expect much of Rotterdam but every bit of help is clearly welcome.

Mayor Aboutaleb has another lesson for the Indonesians. The Netherlands is always described there as "the land of the windmills". Then there's the colonial history. And Geert Wilders. "At dinner they asked me what it was like being mayor of Rotterdam with my name and religious background. But in the Netherlands you can be given opportunities no matter where you were born."

He is opposed to the image of the Netherlands "elsewhere in the world, including here in Indonesia" as a country slipping into a deep pit of racism. "It's absolutely not true. I think it's important for someone like me to tell his story on a regular basis."

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Ship carrying 226 passengers catches fire on way to Bangka

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 02/08/2011

A ship carrying 226 passengers heading from Tanjung Priok, Jakarta to Bangka Belitung caught fire at 3.30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jakarta Police aquatic division chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Edion said Tuesday.

The fire is suspected to have started in the vessel's engine room, and the blaze had been completely extinguished by 5.10 a.m.

“We are in the process of evacuating passengers,” Edion said.

The evacuees were taken to two points, Pelni harbour and Tanjung Priok port.

This is the second time in two weeks a passenger ship has caught fire in Indonesian waters.

Previously, on Jan. 28, the KM Laut Teduh 2 passenger ferry caught fire in the Sunda Strait, killing 16 people.

Dolphin bloodbath exposed

The SUN, Feb. 7, 2011

Cove cover-up ... tarpaulins hide the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan

FISHERMEN use tarpaulins in a bid to cover up the slaughter of dolphins - as secret filming exposes their horrific killing methods.

Officials had claimed the mammals were destroyed humanely after 2009 Oscar-winning documentary The Cove told how 2,000 were killed every year in Taiji, Japan.

Video: Dolphin killers' secret (Sun Exclusive)

Fishermen said that piercing the animals' spinal cord with a sharp spike killed them instantly.

But video shot using cameras hidden on cliffs overlooking the waters show what really happens.

Cruel ... filming shows spike rammed into animal

Hunters are seen driving a spike into dolphins' flesh before ramming a wooden plug in the wound to stop the blood turning the sea RED.

They then DROWN the animals by tying their fins and pushing them underwater.

Ric O'Barry, 71, who trained TV dolphin Flipper and made The Cove, last night said: "The dolphins thrash in agony for minutes. It is beyond cruel. We knew it was a lie, but couldn't prove it until now."

Activist Dieter Hagmann, who revealed the video for German conservationists Atlantic Blue, said: "The video confirms our worst fears.

"The fisherman work in shielded secrecy and supposedly use a bloodless humane method of killing. The footage exposed the cruel truth."

The Japanese government defends the killings for meat as traditional.

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An undated handout photograph released by Sea Shepherd Conservation showing Japanese fishermen slaughtering dolphins in blood-soaked water in Taiji, Japan. Though Dophins were herded into the cove made famous by an Oscar-winning documentary, none were killed this year. (EPA/Sea Shepherd Conservation)

Dolphin hunt goes on in Japan town despite protests

Jakarta sinking fast in wake of construction boom

Hans David Tampubolon, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 02/07/2011

A recent study concluded that land subsidence in Jakarta accelerated at an alarming pace in the past four decades, and if no remedial measures were taken, the northern part of the city could sink below sea level in the next decade.

Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) researcher Heri Andreas said the persistent inundation of North Jakarta would only get worse in the future.

“Several areas in the northern coastal region of Jakarta will subside by 60 centimeters by 2020. In 2050, the area could sit 2.2 meters lower than in 2008,” said Heri, who is also a member of the Jakarta Coast Defense Strategy (JCDS).

Heri predicted that if no action was taken to mitigate land subsidence, flooding and high tides would contribute to 5,100 hectares of land in North Jakarta being submerged in 2020 and another 6,000 hectares in 2050.

A worst-case scenario, however, put the figures at 16,200 hectares in 2020 and 18,100 hectares in 2050.

“In this scenario, the northern coast of Jakarta could be 2 meters under water by 2020 and 6.9 meters under water by 2050,” Heri said.

Global sea levels have risen at a rate of about 1 to 2 millimeters per year on average, and this rate is expected to increase to 5 millimeters per year by 2050.

A recent study by ITB showed that the sea level in the Jakarta northern coastal region rose at a rate of 5.7 millimeters per year.

The most recent finding by the JCDS showed that around 40 percent of land in Jakarta was already below sea level.

Given the finding, the JCDS predicted that within between the next 10 to 20 years, 50 percent of the city would lie below sea level.

The JCDS data also showed that between 1974 and 2010, the Muara Karang area in North Jakarta had sunk 4.1 meters. West Cengkareng in Tangerang had sunk 2.5 meters in the same period.

The Daan Mogot area in West Jakarta and Ancol in North Jakarta sank 1.97 meters and 1.88 meters respectively in the same period.

Between 1974 and 1982, land subsidence rates were not as significant as today. The problem became worse after the region saw a construction boom in property and industry.

A number of dikes constructed by the city, including in Muara Angke, Muara Karang, Pluit, Cilincing and Marunda, are no longer capable of holding back the water that has increased rates of land subsidence.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo recently admitted that the city was sinking at an alarming rate.

“We have no other choice but to construct a new embankment in Jakarta Bay,” Fauzi said.

He said the city needed a giant seawall to protect the capital from flooding, but added that construction could only begin in 2025.

The construction of the seawall is a joint project run by the city administration and the JCDS, which is funded by the Dutch government.

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Jakarta to Build Sea Wall

Tempo Interactive, Friday, 04 February, 2011

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Researchers from Jakarta Coastal Defense Strategy (JCDS) Consortium recommended that the Jakarta Government build a giant sea wall to manage floods. The sea wall will extend 60 kilometers from Tangerang, Jakarta up to Bekasi. “The construction is made possible because the technology has been applied in New Orleans, US,” said member of the JDCS Consortium, Heri Andreas, last Tuesday.

The sea wall was recommended to manage two big threats causing frequent flooding in Jakarta, which are ground subsidence by 10- centimeters per year and the rise of the sea level by 5 millimeter per year. The construction of the sea wall along the North coast of Jakarta is judged to be effective in reducing the threats.

Heri admitted sea walls were not the only way to manage the floods. Another method would be to stop ground water usage and refilling it back. But total stoppage would be unlikely because it is one of the main sources of water.

Even though there are plans to a water refilling plant at the Jatiluhur dam area, the Jakarta Government is still not ready to do this. “By reducing ground water intake, the ground will still subside by 10 to 15 centimeters per year. Even if we refill the water, the ground will still subside in 5 years time,” said Heru,” Meanwhile the danger of rising sea levels cannot be solved because it is caused by global warming.

Heri said that the government has tried to solve the problem partially by building embankments in Kamal Muara and other sites. But it is still regarded as insufficient.

RENNY FITRIA SARI | ENDRI K

DPRK accuses Japan of illegal whaling

English.news.cn 2011-02-01

PYONGYANG, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Tuesday accused Japan of illegally hunting whales, the official news agency KCNA reported.

According to the KCNA, Japanese boats have continued whaling in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans with nearly 1,000 whales caught every year allegedly for scientific research.

Japan's illegal hunting of whales has put the remaining species of whales in danger of extermination in the world, the report said.

Japan refused to stop catching whales just for commercial profits, which has brought enormous benefits to the country from the whale marketing, it added.

"It is natural that Japan is criticized by the international community for killing whales to rake in money," the report said.