January 21st , 2008 - IFCCI -

Republican McCain wins South Carolina primary; Obama, Clinton split Nevada

COLUMBIA, South Carolina : Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama shift their fight to South Carolina after a split result in Nevada's contest failed to yield a clear winner in the battle for the U.S. Democratic presidential nomination. Republican John McCain's victory in South Carolina gave his campaign much-needed momentum in the unpredictable race ahead of a crucial battle in Florida.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney won among the Republicans in the Nevada caucuses.

Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, captured the popular vote among Democrats Saturday in Nevada caucuses gaining support of about 51 percent of caucus-goers to Obama's 45 percent. But the Illinois senator edged her out for national convention delegates, taking 13 to her 12.

Their next battle will be the Democrats' first in the South, where Obama is relying on black voters, who make up more than half of the South Carolina Democratic electorate, to give him a winning edge. Most polls have him leading Clinton in the state. But Clinton has won over many influential black leaders and had led in the state before Obama's Iowa victory established him as a strong contender in next Saturday's primary.

Overall, Clinton leads the Democrats' delegate race with 236, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as super delegates. Obama has a total of 136. Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards is trailing with 50 delegates, making it crucial that he has a strong showing in the upcoming races.

Among the Republicans, McCain, whose campaign was left for dead six months ago, quickly predicted that victory in the first southern primary would help him on Jan. 29 when Florida votes, and again on Feb. 5, dubbed "Super Tuesday," when more than two dozen states hold primaries and caucuses.

"We've got a long way to go," McCain told The Associated Press in an interview.

The Arizona senator defeated former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in a close race in the conservative state. McCain had 33 percent of the vote to just under 30 percent for his closest rival. He won 19 delegates, to five for Huckabee.

The winner of the South Carolina Republican primary has gone on to become the party's eventual nominee every four years since 1980 when Ronald Reagan won the White House. McCain's victory avenged a bitter loss in 2000 to George W. Bush that snuffed out his presidential hopes.

"Thank you, South Carolina, for bringing us across the finish line first in the first-in-the-South primary. It took us a while. But what's eight years among friends," McCain told a boisterous crowd of supporters at a victory rally.

Appearing before supporters, Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, was a gracious loser, congratulating McCain for "running a civil and a good and a decent campaign."

Far from conceding defeat in the race, he added, "The process is far, far from over."

Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, who recently starred in the TV series "Law & Order," was in a struggle for third place with about 16 percent, after saying he needed a strong showing in his native South to sustain his candidacy. Another Republican, California congressman Duncan Hunter, dropped out of the presidential race even before the votes were tallied.

Romney trailed in fourth place in South Carolina with 15 percent, but rolled to victory in Nevada's Republican caucuses, winning roughly 50 percent of the vote in a multi-candidate field. The other top Republican candidates campaigned little in Nevada, deeming South Carolina the more important race.

Candidates are vying to amass enough delegates in state-by-state contests to secure their party's presidential nomination at the national convention this summer.

In the overall race for delegates, Romney leads with 59, followed by Huckabee with 40 and McCain with 36. A total of 1,191 delegates are needed to secure the Republican nomination.

With three contests on the ballot, Saturday was the busiest day of the presidential campaign to date, and fittingly enough for a pair of wide-open races, every contest produced a different winner.

No matter the state, the economy was the top issue in all three races on the ballot. Unemployment has been on the rise in South Carolina, and Nevada has one of the highest mortgage foreclosure rates in the country.

Republicans in Nevada and South Carolina cited immigration as their second most-important concern. Among Democrats in Nevada, health care was the second most-important issue followed by the Iraq war, which has dominated the race for months.

With a black man and a woman as the leading contenders, the Democratic race was history in the making - and increasingly testy, as well. Obama accused former President Bill Clinton of "making a habit of mischaracterizing what I say" while campaigning on his wife's behalf. The Clinton campaign cited reports of voter intimidation by Nevada unions supporting Obama.

Interviews with Democratic caucus-goers indicated that Clinton won about half the votes cast by whites and women, and two-thirds support from Hispanics, many of them members of the Culinary Workers Union that endorsed Obama. He won about 80 percent of the black vote.

The split Democratic verdict in Nevada resulted from the proportional manner in which delegates were awarded. Obama emerged with one more than Clinton because he ran strongly in rural areas.

Clinton claimed the Nevada vote as a victory. "This is one step on a long journey," she told cheering supporters in Las Vegas. Obama issued a statement that said he had conducted an "honest, uplifting campaign ... that appealed to people's hopes instead of their fears."

On the Republican side, Romney's western victory marked his second straight success, coming quickly after a first-place finish in the Michigan primary revived a faltering campaign.

Romney had campaigned for months to win early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, and his candidacy was in trouble when he lost both.

Final returns showed Romney with more than 50 percent support in a multi-candidate field.

Mormons gave Romney about half his votes. He is hoping to become the first member of his faith to win the White House.

Romney also won at least 17 of the 31 Republican National Convention delegates at stake. McCain and libertarian-leaning Texas congressman Ron Paul won at least four apiece, while Thompson and Huckabee each won two. Rudy Giuliani won one delegate - the first of the campaign for the former New York mayor.

Alone among the major Republican contenders, Giuliani skipped the day's events. He camped out in Florida, the first of the big states to vote, with a winner-take-all primary.

Overall, Clinton gained support from about 51 percent of caucus-goers. Obama had the backing of 45 percent, and Edwards had 4 percent.

JAKARTA : Former president Soeharto moved his hands and spoke in a whisper Sunday in what doctors called an amazing recovery after he suffered multiple organ failure.

Soeharto, 86, was hospitalized Jan. 4 with severe kidney, lung and heart trouble. His condition deteriorated rapidly a week ago and he developed a potentially fatal blood infection, pneumonia and his heart briefly stopped. Preparations had begun for a state funeral.

On Sunday, Soeharto was still in intensive care, but was ready for early stages of physiotherapy, said Dr. Jusuf Misbach. "He is fully conscious, he can follow instructions and answer our questions in a weak voice," he said. "He scratched himself and raised his hands. It's an amazing accomplishment."

Doctors said they were also successfully fighting his infection with antibiotics and that his lungs and heart showed improvement.

More birds killed in India to curb new outbreaks of bird flu

CALCUTTA, India : Health workers slaughtered more poultry in eastern India on Sunday as state officials worked to contain fresh outbreaks of bird flu.

Authorities ordered the slaughter of some 600,000 birds, mostly chickens, after bird flu was confirmed in five districts in the state of West Bengal.

Authorities were still awaiting test results to determine whether it was the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has been blamed for the deaths of at least 218 people worldwide since 2003, according to the World Health Organization.

No human cases have been reported in India, despite two previous H5N1 outbreaks among birds. WHO said the current outbreak is the most dangerous India has faced.

About 100,000 birds have been slaughtered in recent days, but health workers are facing resistance from farmers because they believe the government isn't adequately compensating them.

"The villagers in many places consider the poultry as part of their family and do not want to part with them," said Anisur Rahman, the state's animal husbandry minister.

A mob of farmers in one of the worst-affected areas attacked five officials after health workers slaughtered their chickens, said Biplab Ojha, a local official. The officials sustained minor injuries, and there were no arrests.

The H5N1 virus has afflicted more than 60 countries since it began ravaging Asian poultry stocks in 2003, forcing the slaughter of hundreds of millions of birds worldwide.

It remains hard for people to catch, but experts fear it may mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic. So far, most human cases have been linked to contact with infected birds.

Yudhoyono sees Prince's visit good momentum in RI-Japan ties

JAKARTA : President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono expects Saturday the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Indonesia-Japan relations this year to focus on three things: culture, education and friendship between the two countries' youths.

"Closer relations between the young people of both countries are important so they can be expected to inherit and continue the present good relations between Indonesia and Japan," presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal quoted the president as saying when welcoming Japanese Prince Akishino and his wife, Princess Kiko, at the Presidential Palace on Saturday, Antara reported.

The royal couple touched down in Jakarta on Friday for a week-long visit.

During the meeting, the prince read out a message from Japanese Emperor Akihito expressing pleasure about the two countries' relations, which have grown significantly in the past 50 years.

"Indonesia-Japan relations have increased continuously, following the signing of a strategic agreement in 2005 and the Economic Partnership Agreement last year. Besides an economic partner, Japan is also an important counterpart to Indonesia in the region and in international political forums," Dino said.

The Prince is slated to meet the Regional Representatives Council Speaker, Ginanjar Kartasasmita, on Sunday, and he will also attend a function at the Japan Foundation and meet with Japanese nationals living in Indonesia.

Prince Akishino is scheduled to visit the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) on Monday, and then the royal couple will be taken to Bogor National Park and LIPI's Museum of Zoology in Cibinong, West Java.

Telkomsel to seek $750 million in financing

JAKARTA : Indonesia's biggest mobile telephone operator Telkomsel plans to seek a minimum of US$ 750 million to help finance its capital expenditure this year, which is expected to range from $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion.

"The majority of the financing will be in the form of bank loans," Telkomsel's parent company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) president director Rinaldi Firmansyah told reporters Friday.

"We expect to gather about $200 million to $300 million through a combination of Medium Term Notes (MTN) and bonds."

Rinaldi said Telkom planned to spend around $800 million this year and would seek half of it through financing.

"For Telkom, the combination of MTN and bonds would likely amount to $100 million, while the remainder would come from bank loans."

Telkomsel president director Kiskenda Suriahardja said about 40 percent of the total capital expenditure would be used to finance the expansion of its network coverage.

He added that 45 percent would be allocated to a service quality enhancement program and the rest would be used on strategic investments in related businesses.

Holcim, Mortar join forces to expand horizons

JAKARTA : The third largest cement manufacturer in the country, PT Holcim Indonesia, signed a cooperation agreement Friday with local instant cement manufacturer PT Cipta Mortar Utama.

"We've had a long relationship with Mortar and with this co-branding cooperation I hope we can expand our markets by combining our distribution networks," Holcim president director Tim Mackay said before signing the agreement.

Mortar generally focuses on commercial construction projects, such as the Ritz Carlton and ITC Permata Hijau, while Holcim mainly works in the country's retail sector, especially on housing projects.

Mortar's general marketing manager Jun Suryo Wardhana said the instant cement market was still small in Indonesia, making up only 20 percent of the country's entire cement market.

The primary components in instant cement include silica sand, cement and filler.

Jun said one of the benefits of using instant cement was that people did not have to add sand.

Holcim's production capacity currently stands at 7.9 million tons per year, while Mortar's annual capacity is 600,000 tons.

The Indonesian Association of Cement Producers (ASI) said domestic cement consumption rose last year by 6.6 percent to 34.17 million tons from 32.05 million tons in 2006.

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