PM Lee to meet

PM Lee to meet Susilo in Bali (2x15)

SINGAPORE: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday he will go ahead with a meeting in Bali with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono despite the deadly weekend attack in the resort island.

Their scheduled two-day "retreat" starting on Monday will cover regional issues and bilateral relations, a statement from the prime minister's office said.

"We have to carry on with the retreat. I have been in touch with Yudhoyono's people, staff and they agree we have to continue," national broadcaster Channel News Asia's website quoted Lee as saying.

"To change our plans and not to meet is really to concede (to terrorists). We will go and continue with the retreat and take the necessary precautions and I am looking forward to meeting the president," the prime minister added.

Lee will be accompanied by his wife Ho Ching, who is the chief executive of state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings, cabinet ministers and other senior officials.

Singapore is one of the biggest foreign investors in Indonesia and relations have improved markedly in recent years. -- AFP

;DPA;ANJ; ANPAu..r.. Indonesia-Terrorism-HongKong British consulate in Hong Kong sends rapid-response team to Bali JP/11/NOTEBO

Britain sends rapid-response team

HONG KONG: The British consulate in Hong Kong said on Sunday it has sent a rapid-response team to Bali to help British nationals caught up in Saturday's bombings.

The consulate also set up a hotline - Hong Kong 2901 3077 - for friends and relatives of British people who were in Bali at the time of the terrorist attacks.

At least three Hong Kong tour groups were in Bali at the time of the explosions but there were no reports on Sunday morning of any casualties from the former British colony.

Britain's ambassador in Indonesia, Charles Humfrey, would be also sent to Bali. -- Agencies

;AFP;ANJ; ANPAu..r.. Indonesia-attacks-toll Four of six South Koreans wounded in Bali blast to head home JP/11/NOTEBO

Injured S. Koreans to head home

INDONESIA: Four of the six South Koreans wounded in the latest series of bomb blasts on the Indonesian resort island of Bali are to be repatriated, a travel agent said on Sunday.

"From the six, four will be evacuated," said Tommy Soetrisno, travel operation director of PD Tour which brought the group to Bali.

Soetrisno told AFP at the hospital that the four will be flown back to South Korea for further treatment there. All six were women, he said.

The two remaining South Koreans included one woman who is due to undergo surgery to treat an injured bladder, and another who wanted to keep her company, he said.

"The hospital has already confirmed that there are not too many problems for this (the repatriation)," he added.

A nurse caring for the six Koreans, Hilvana, said that any patient allowed to be evacuated has to be able to sustain seven straight hours of travel.

"The doctors are very strict about this, and if there are indications that they will not be able to stand seven hours of travel, the permit for them to leave would not be given," Hilvana said.

Soetrisno said that the travel company, which brings about 500 South Korean visitors to Bali every year, will bear the whole cost of the repatriation.

He said that the six were part of a group of 18 South Koreans who had opted to dine at Jimbaran that evening, while the others decided to go somewhere closer to their hotel. -- AFP

;DPA;ANJ; ANPAu..r.. Indonesia-Terrorism-Germany Berlin says two Germans injured in Bali blasts JP/11/NOTEBOO

Two Germans injured in Bali blasts

GERMANY: Two Germans suffered slight injuries in the Bali blasts, the German Foreign Office said in Berlin on Sunday.

A spokeswoman said there was no information to suggest any Germans were among the dead.

The German government earlier condemned Saturday's terrorist bombings in Bali and appealed for the culprits to be brought to justice. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer on Saturday described the attacks as contemptuous of humanity.

"The background to the attacks must be illuminated, and those responsible brought to justice," he said. "Indonesia can count on German solidarity in the battle against international terrorism." -- DPA

;AFP;ANJ; ANPAu..r.. Indonesia-attacks Bali promotion to go ahead in New Zealand despite bombings JP/11/NOTEBOO

Bali promotion to go ahead in NZ

NEW ZEALAND: A group of Bali tourism operators visiting New Zealand to seek business said on Sunday they want their promotional tour to go ahead despite the latest deadly bombings on the Indonesian resort island.

Eighteen representatives of Bali Village, a non-profit organization representing almost 200 tourism-affiliated industries on the island, are in Auckland as part of an Australasian tour.

The group of mainly hoteliers and tour operators said the bombings had forced a rethink of their planned presentation to New Zealand tourism industry representatives.

Speaking through representative Maman Baboe, the group said they were keen to push ahead with their scheduled meeting, although in a revised format.

Baboe, who manages web portal indonz.com, said the group was assessing its options.

About 1,500 New Zealanders travel to Indonesia each month, mostly to Bali, but there have been no reports of New Zealanders caught in Saturday's bombings which killed at least 26 people. -- AFP

;AFP;ANJ; ANPAu..r.. Indonesia-attacks Australian health minister visits injured in Bali JP/11/NOTEBOO

Aussie minister visits injured

AUSTRALIA: Australian health minister Tony Abbott on Sunday interrupted his holiday on the Indonesian island of Bali to visit those hospitalized by three bomb blasts.

Abbott, a close colleague of Prime Minister John Howard, was with his family in Bali when the bombs exploded on Saturday night.

On Sunday he visited more than 12 Australians being treated at a hospital on the resort island, ABC radio reported. Abbott said the victims were dealing with the situation courageously.

"Some them have been absolutely peppered with shrapnel, some of them have serious burns," he said. "But all of them are bearing up with as much fortitude as they can muster under the circumstances."

Abbott praised the efforts of medics, including a doctor from Newcastle, north of Sydney, who had volunteered to assist the wounded.

"Dr Adam Frost, who was one of the group but who was not with the party that was exposed to the bomb last night, has done an absolutely herculean effort just assisting the injured and rallying the uninjured," he said. -- AFP