Photo winners to be announced
THE NETHERLANDS: The results of this year's World Press Photo contest will be announced on Feb. 13 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, the World Press Photo said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post.
An international jury comprising prominent photo journalists will select prize winning images in 20 categories from tens of thousands of pictures over a two-week period.
The jury will be led by Elisabeth Biondi, visuals editor for The New Yorker magazine.
Members of the jury include Elena Ceratti, international news editor of Agenzia Grazia Neri, James K. Colton, photography editor of Sports Illustrated, Steve Crisp, editor of Reuters News Pictures, and Aleksander Zemlianichenko, photographer for the Associated Press.
The World Press Photo contest is the premier annual international competition in the field of photojournalism. -- JP
;AFP;APS; ANPAi..r.. ATW-SriLanka-air-Cargo Sri Lanka int'l airport reopens JP/12/Srilanka
Sri Lanka int'l airport reopens
SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka's only international airport reopened on Thursday after being closed for nearly 10 hours following the crash-landing of a cargo plane that damaged runway lights, an airport official said.
The seven-member crew of the IL-18 aircraft escaped unharmed when it crash-landed at about 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday (11:30 p.m. in Jakarta), and there were no injuries on the ground, officials said.
But the Bandaranaike International Airport near the capital was shut for repairs to 15 runway lights and to clear away the plane, which badly damaged its left engines and fuselage.
"The airport is now open and all services are back to normal," the official said.
At least 38 flights were affected and some of them were diverted to airports in neighboring India and the Maldives. -- AFP
;AFP; ANPAi..r.. ATW-NZealand-politics-mud New Zealand PM jostled by protestors JP/12/NZEALAND
New Zealand PM jostled by protestors
NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark was jostled and opposition leader Don Brash pelted with mud in protests by indigenous Maori on Thursday on the eve of National Day commemorations here.
Prominent Maori leader Kingi Taurua said the mud-throwing may be the beginning of a Maori backlash.
A shower of dirt and mud hit Brash, the leader of the main opposition National Party, as he stood at the entrance to the Te Tii Waitangi marae, or Maori meeting place, at the top of the North Island.
Brash had refused to go into the marae in protest of a ban on mainstream media imposed by Maori elders who said they were not happy with the treatment they have received in previous years. -- AFP