Window 10 - What do you think?

Microsoft has made its latest pre-release build of Windows 10available for installation to members of its Windows Insider program. The buildincludes much of what Microsoft showcased earlier this week including the new Start Menu with the ability to expand to a full-screen experience. The January Technical Preview build– 9926 – also includes Cortana integration. Cortana sits on the taskbar and can help search for apps, settings and files as well as search the web on your behalf. There’s also a revised Settings menu which has been reorganized to be more reminiscent of the Control Panel. Installers will also find the new Photos, Maps and Xbox apps as well as the Windows Store Beta. Microsoft also implemented some minor changes based on feedback from Insiders. For example, a bug in which keyboard lights weren’t working to indicate Caps lock / Num lock / Scroll lock has now been fixed. What’s more, the team added an option to select the default folder when opening File Explorer and modified the aesthetics of ALT+TAB. Notably absent from the update is Spartan, Microsoft’s brand new web browser, as well as support for Music Locker which is based on OneDrive. What are your thoughts on Windows 10 thus far? Do you like the direction Microsoft is going or are we looking at another lackluster OS in the making?

WORLD'S STRANGEST MEN

10 Strange And Mysterious Men

The world is full of mysterious men that have made an impact on history, people who have followed a secretive lifestyle and died with unanswered questions about their true motivations. In many cases, these people are top secret spies, psychics, serial killers, government scientists, mafia members, assassins, or whistle blowers. The individuals have all been tainted by bizarre accusations and unsubstantiated claims. In response, conspiracy theories have emerged to describe the events. Here we examine the lives of 10 mysterious men that continue to fascinate people around the world.

10 Wolf Messing

In 1899, Wolf Messing was born in the town of Góra Kalwaria, which is located 25 kilometers (15 mi) southeast of Warsaw, Poland. As a teenager, Messing claimed to be a psychic. He could alter people’s perceptions and predict future outcomes based on mental telepathy and body language clues. During his shows, Messing would enter a trance-like state and attempt to find hidden objects. He performed in front of large crowds and became famous after World War II. Messing even caught the attention of Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud.
In 1937, Wolf Messing predicted that Adolf Hitler would die if he ever threatened Russia and “turned toward the East.” The message angered Hitler and caused Messing to flee to Russia, where he continued to perform his act. As the story goes, Messing was then forced to prove his psychic ability for Stalin by convincing a bank teller to give him cash with nothing more than a blank piece of paper. After the successful demonstration, Messing became a teacher for the KGB.
Messing’s life was chronicled in an autobiography titled About Myself. One quote from the book says, “My ability to see the future may seem to contradict the materialist understanding of the world. But there is not a particle of the unknowable or supernatural about precognition.” Wolf Messing died in 1974. Since that time, many facts attributed to his life have been questioned and deemed unsubstantiated by historical references—a fact which has only contributed to his mystery.

9 Adam Rainer

In 1899, Adam Rainer was born in Graz, Austria. When he was 19 years old, Rainer was medically tested and determined to be extremely short for his age. His height was said to be 1.4 meters (4’8″). However, another source says that he was only 1.18 meters (3’10.5″) at the age of 21. At this time, Rainer was thin, weak, and showed signs of dwarfism. Despite his short size, it was noted that he had large feet. In 1920, Rainer started to experience a massive growth spurt. His arms, legs, hands, and feet exploded in size and his health deteriorated. Rainer started to lose his eyesight, and it became hard for him to eat and walk.
By 1930, Adam Rainer was two meters (6’9″) tall. It has been suggested that he had a tumor in his pituitary gland, which caused an overproduction of growth hormone. Rainer developed a protruding forehead and jaw and thicker lips, which are all characteristic of acromegaly. In the early 1930s, it is thought that he had surgery to remove the tumor, but the operation didn’t stop the growth. Eventually, Rainer became bedridden and died in 1950 at a height of 2.34 meters (7’8″). The Guinness Book of World Records has listed Adam Rainer as the “most variable stature” in history. The entry says that he was the only person to be both a dwarf and a giant.

8 Raymond Lee Harvey

On May 5, 1979, a man named Raymond Lee Harvey was arrested by the Secret Service for concealing a loaded starter gun only 10 minutes before President Jimmy Carter was set to give a speech in Los Angeles. Harvey was arrested only 15.2 meters (50 ft) from where Carter was going to talk. After being interrogated by the police, Harvey admitted to being part of a four-man plot to kill the president. His role in the attack was to shoot into the air, while another assassin killed Carter. Harvey conspired with a 21-year-old named Osvaldo Espinoza Ortiz, who was arrested by the police. Ortiz admitted to being with Harvey, but denied a plot to kill the president.
Raymond Lee Harvey had a history of mental illness. His story was initially thought to be fabricated, however, after investigators found corroborative testimony, the claims were taken seriously. The assassination attempt was reported by the mainstream media, but then quickly disappeared. Many of the details surrounding Raymond Lee Harvey remain a mystery. After a series of revelations, Harvey and Ortiz were held on bond, but the charges were eventually dropped.
As you would expect, people have connected the fact that the potential assassin was named Raymond Lee Harvey and his conspirator was Osvaldo Ortiz. In Spanish, Osvaldo is the equivalent to Oswald, which makes the pair “Lee Harvey Oswald.” The coincidence has spawned a series of conspiracy theories that say the assassination attempt was fabricated in order to scare the Carter administration.

7 Karl Koecher

In 1934, Karl Koecher was born in Czechoslovakia. When he was 28, Koecher joined the Czech intelligence agency. In the mid-1960s, he moved to the United States and received a doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University. Koecher then obtained a position with the CIA and became a spy for the USSR. He is one of only a few people to have penetrated the CIA for the Soviet Union. A large percentage of information on his life has never been revealed.
It is unclear what tipped the CIA off that Koecher was a double agent, but in 1984 he was arrested and accused of being a spy. The CIA attempted to make him turn against the USSR, but Koecher was eventually deemed to be unreliable. After the FBI made mistakes in his case, Koecher was set free. On February 11, 1986, he was part of a spy exchange that involved Anatoly Shcharansky. Upon his return to Czechoslovakia, Koecher was named a hero and given a job with the government.
In 1989, it was suggested that Koecher was involved with the Velvet Revolution, but he denied the claims. After the fall of communism in the USSR, little information was published on his life. However, he has been accused of being connected to the CIA. It was alleged that Koecher was involved in a defrauding scheme that provided Mohammed Al-Fayed with false documents that supported the conspiracy surrounding the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.

6 Lawrence E. King Jr.

Lawrence E. King Jr. is the man who was at the center of the child sex ring allegations involving the Omaha, Nebraska, branch of the Franklin Community Federal Credit Union (FCFCU) that emerged in the late 1980s. Despite the high-profile case, little information has been published on King’s activities. In 1988, Lawrence King was an active Republican politician that managed the FCFCU, which was a credit union used to help the poor. After several tips, it began to emerge that $38 million was missing from the organization’s funds, which spawned an investigation that found evidence of physical and sexual child abuse.
The sources of the reports were initially deemed credible, and information emerged that young boys and girls from foster homes were being transported around the country by plane in order to provide sexual favors for rich people. A large number of victims came forward and said that they were sexually molested. The reports were examined by the Executive Board of the Nebraska Legislature, and many cases of sexual abuse were recorded. It was speculated that the abuse was performed by prominent political figures in the Republican Party.
The allegations were investigated by two different grand juries, who found the information to be a “carefully crafted hoax.” Many people were shocked by the decision; they thought the accusations were “scripted by a person or persons with considerable knowledge of the people and institutions of Omaha.” After the decision, a Nebraska Senator called the grand jury release “a strange document.” The second grand jury also found the material unsubstantiated and sentenced an alleged victim, Alisha Owen, to 9-15 years in prison for perjury. Eventually, Lawrence King was convicted of embezzling over $38 million and served 10 years in prison. The scandal produced a large number of conspiracy theories that include tales of devil worship, political sex parties, cannibalism, CIA gun smuggling, and the first Bush administration.

5 Arnold Paole

In the early 18th century, people in southeastern Europe started to believe in the existence of vampires. They were seen as a major problem to society, especially in Transylvania. People took to digging up graves and staking dead bodies that were deemed to be vampires. Some individuals even reported seeing their dead relatives walking the streets and attacking living people. The panic spread around Europe, and many publications speculated on the phenomenon. Two of the most famous examples of vampires from this time are Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paole.
In 1726, Arnold Paole died in the village of Meduegna, which was near the Morava River. Immediately after his death, people started seeing his undead body. The situation caused panic in Serbia and officials called for the help of two Austrian military doctors, Glaser and Flückinger. The investigation and report produced by Flückinger was named Visum et Repertum and confirmed the existence of vampires.
The report said that Arnold Paole’s dead body was responsible for the deaths of four separate people. His corpse was dug up and found to be “quite complete and undecayed, with fresh blood from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.” Based on this, it was concluded that Paole was a vampire. His heart was staked and his body burned. Five years after the initial outbreak, the deaths of 17 people were attributed to Paole and vampirism. His story was published in the London Journal on March 11, 1732, in which it was proclaimed that vampires were drinking the blood of the living in Hungary.

4 Walter Haut

In the summer of 1947, Walter Haut worked as a public information officer for the U.S. 509th Bomb Group in Roswell, New Mexico. On July 8, 1947, he was ordered to issue a press release announcing that the U.S. Army had recovered a “flying disc” in the desert. The statement was given, but immediately retracted by the U.S. military. Haut was told to promote the idea that the debris was nothing more than a high-altitude weather balloon. The explanation caused criticism by the national media and spawned the Roswell UFO conspiracy theory.
In regards to the initial press release, Haut said: “When that hit the news wires, the world came to an end, as far as I was concerned. My phone rang and rang and rang.” For the remainder of his career, Haut worked for the U.S. government. He claimed to know nothing about the wreckage and that he had simply provided a mistaken press release. However, in the early 1990s, after he retired, Haut changed the story. In 1997, he said: “I think it was an extremely well-planned cover-up.” For the last 15 years of his life, Haut proclaimed that he had witnessed an alien craft and bodies in Roswell.
In 2002, Haut signed an affidavit that described his experience with aliens, including details about the UFOs and extraterrestrial bodies. He claimed to have witnessed an egg-shaped craft and several dead aliens with elongated heads. In 2007, after the death of Haut, the information was published in the book Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the 60 Year Cover-Up. It has been suggested that Haut remained silent about the true events in Roswell out of respect for his friend Colonel William Blanchard. The reliability of the affidavit remains questionable.

3 Alexander Solonik

In 1960, Alexander Solonik was born in Kurgan, Russia. In the late 1980s, he was arrested for rape and sent to prison. In jail, he became targeted for death due to his association with the police. However, Solonik fought off multiple attacks and earned the respect of his fellow inmates. After escaping from prison in April 1990, Solonik became one of the most infamous Russian assassins in history. He murdered a large number of organized crime figures and gained the nicknames “Alexander the Great” and “Superkiller.”
The exact number of people Solonik murdered is a mystery, along with much of the details surrounding his life. In the early 1990s, he gained a reputation for being a lethal contract killer who had the ability to shoot ambidextrously. Solonik confessed to killing a large number of criminals, including Viktor Nikiforov, Valery Dlugach, Vladislav Vinner, and Andrey Rura. In 1994, he was arrested at Moscow’s Petrovsky marketplace. He was taken to Detention Center 1 in Moscow, but eventually escaped.
Solonik fled to Greece and set up a criminal organization in the area. He purchased a large amount of real estate in Athens and was placed on Russia’s Top 10 Most Wanted list. In 1997, a Greek newspaper reported that a Russian mafia boss had been found dead 15 miles from Athens. The man had been strangled to death and it was concluded that the corpse was Alexander Solonik, despite the fact that his fingerprints in the Interpol database were not accurate. The Greek authorities insisted that the body was not Solonik. However, he was officially declared dead. He’s never been heard from since, and the true influence of Solonik’s criminal network during the mid-1990s remains unknown.

2 Sidney Gottlieb

In 1918, Sidney Gottlieb was born in New York under the name of Joseph Scheider. He received a PhD in chemistry from Caltech and became an expert on lethal poisons. In 1951, Gottlieb joined the CIA and was given a job on the top secret biological warfare program MKULTRA. Project MKULTRA was a now-infamous series of experiments used to study human mind control and modification. During the project, Gottlieb organized experiments in which humans were used as guinea pigs. For this reason, he was given the nicknames “Black Sorcerer” and “Dirty Trickster.”
Gottlieb helped organize Operation Midnight Climax, which was a program where the CIA purchased houses in San Francisco, Marin, and New York in order to watch people. For the project, the CIA hired a large group of prostitutes that lured subjects back to a house, drugged them, and then had sex while Gottlieb and others observed from behind two-way mirrors. The experiments gave results in sexual blackmail, surveillance, and mind-altering drugs. Gottlieb was also involved with the Cuban Project, in which he developed ideas to poison Fidel Castro.
During his career, Gottlieb worked for Lockheed, DARPA, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence. In one incident, he attempted to contaminate Iraq’s General Abdul Karim Qassim’s handkerchief with botulinum. He was also involved with the Phoenix Program, in which the U.S. performed mind control experiments on the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. In 1960, he played a role in America’s attempt to kill the Prime Minister of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba. On November 28, 1953, biological warfare specialist Frank Olson died under mysterious circumstances while working under Sidney Gottlieb.

1 Sergei Tretyakov

Sergei Tretyakov was a Russian spy who defected to the United States in October 2000. During his time in Russia, Tretyakov was a colonel in the Russian intelligence service (S.V.R.) and oversaw covert operations in New York City and at the United Nations. Starting in 1997, Tretyakov became a double agent and passed secrets to the Americans. After moving to the United States, he was given a package worth $2 million and placed in the Witness Protection Program. In 2008, Tretyakov provided information about the SVR. He said that the Russian intelligence program is just as active today as ever. Tretyakov warned that the world should “wake up” to the danger.
He told NPR that his “defection was a major failure of the Russian intelligence.” Some of his revelations include the suggestion that Eldar Kouliev was an SVR spy. He said that U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott, was influenced by Russia, along with Canadian Alex Kindy. According to Tretyakov, the KGB fabricated the nuclear winter story to stop the development of the Pershing missiles in Europe. He said that the SVR developed a list of influential political figures that were assassinated in order to bring Vladimir Putin to power. He also recounted a conversation in which a man (Vladimir K. Dmitriev) discussed privately owned nuclear weapons.
Sergei Tretyakov also exposed the Russian warfare program known as Active Measures. The program uses misinformation, propaganda, hoaxes, and political persecution to influence world events. Active Measures has been called the “heart and soul of Soviet intelligence,” and is being used to discredit the United States. Some have speculated that Russia orchestrated the Edward Snowden media leak in order to create anger in the United States and Europe, specifically Germany. On June 13, 2010, Sergei Tretyakov died at his house in the United States. The medical examiner reported that he suffocated after choking on a piece of meat. However, rumors persist that he was assassinated by the SVR.


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2015 - THE FUTURE IS NOW HERE '' We have chosen to stand for PEACE''

THE FUTURE IS NOW HERE
Weeks ago, it was a question of what 2015 has for Nigeria with so many speculations that consist of both BLOODSHED and PEACE.
Like it has always
been man has the power to choose the right thing or the wrong thing, it is the ability to choose the right thing that matter most. NIGERIANS, 2015 is here let us stand for PEACE AND UNITY.
#NoMoreViolenceInNigeria





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Ivory Coast exclude Drogba from squad

Ivory Coast coach Herve Renard has excluded Didier Drogba and two other top stars  from his 23-man squad for the upcoming African Cup of Nations.

The Frenchman also excluded Didier Zokora and Emmanuel Eboue from his team for the tournament to be staged in Equatorial Guinea next month.

Drogba had retired and pressure mounted for him to return but after it became clear he had no intention of rescinding his decision Renard named his squad without him.

Liverpool defender Kolo Toure will join his brother Manchester City’s Yaya in the Ivory Coast squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.

The Reds defender will retire from international duty after the January tournament, some 15 years after winning his first cap for the Elephants.

Nigerian, not Cameroon airforce bombed Boko Haram terrorists in North-east — DHQ

Abuja — Following reports Tuesday, that Cameroonian air force jets on Monday launched air strikes on scores of Boko Haram terrorists who occupied a military base in Northern Cameroon and bombed them on the Nigerian side, the Defence Headquarters said yesterday that no foreign air force aircraft launched any airstrike on Nigeria’s territory.

Rather, DHQ in a post on its twitter handle, disclosed that the air strikes that killed Boko Haram terrorists in the said confrontation at the Nigerian divide of the border town with Cameroon was carried out by Nigerian Airforce fighter aircraft.

It said it will investigate the source of the information claiming that the air strikes were carried out by a foreign air force.

Cameroon’s minister of information, Issa Tchiroma had in a statement, said the coordinated assaults on five towns and villages showed a change in tactics by Boko Haram fighters, adding that the group’s campaign to carve out an Islamic Caliphate has spread from North East Nigeria to neighbouring Cameroon.

He added that President Paul Biya ordered air strikes to flush out Boko Haram terrorists’ from Northern Cameroon.

However, Defence Spokesman, Major General Chris Olukolade said, “Ongoing highly Coordinated Air operation is being conducted by the Nigeria Air force. No indication of any Foreign Force engaging in any part of Nigeria. We will investigate claims of Airstrikes by a Foreign Force on our Soil. This serves to satisfy peddlers of strange claims and stories”

Continuing, Olukolade asked, “What could be the motive of Foreign Media outfits peddling false/exaggerated claims of a neighboring Army’s exploits on Nigerian soil?”

150 armored vehicles to be stationed across Europe by U.S Army

(Reuters) - The United States plans by the end of next year to station around 150 tanks and armored vehicles in Europe for use by U.S. forces training there, according to a U.S. military commander.

Some of the tanks and vehicles - enough to equip an armored brigade - could be placed in Poland, Romania or the Baltic states, Lieutenant-General Ben Hodges, commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, said in a telephone interview with Reuters from Wiesbaden, Germany.

Hodges said a proposal to have a U.S. brigade rotate to Europe was first made two years ago, before the crisis over Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

That meant a U.S. armored unit was already in the pipeline to come to Europe earlier this year, when it was needed as part of U.S. measures to reassure eastern European allies in response to the Ukraine crisis, he said.

Hodges said he saw a risk that pro-Russian separatists in easternUkraine might launch a new offensive in the spring. Russia denies any aggressive activity.

Hodges said he expected the U.S. measures, which include an expanded exercise program, to go on throughout 2015 and into 2016.

Keeping enough equipment in Europe for a U.S. armored brigade avoids the need for troops coming from the United States for exercises to bring their own kit.

It also means the equipment is there if the United States needed to reinforce eastern Europe quickly in an emergency.

"By the end of ... 2015, we will have gotten all the equipment for a heavy brigade, that means three battalions plus a reconnaissance squadron, the artillery headquarters, engineers, and it will stay in Europe," Hodges said.

"You are talking about 150-ish, maybe 160 M1 tanks, M2 Bradley fighting vehicles, 24 self-propelled howitzers."

No decision has yet been taken on where the armored vehicles will be kept.

Hodges said he expected at least a third of it to remain at U.S. training centers in Germany. The United States may consider distributing some of the equipment to a Baltic country, Poland or Romania if it made strategic sense and if that country wanted it kept there.

The United States has sharply cut its forces in Europe since the Cold War. It now has about 30,000 troops there plus a similar number of Air Force, Navy and Marine personnel, Hodges said.

Despite budgetary pressures in the United States, Hodges said he hoped U.S. soldiers and bases in Europe would remain at their current levels for now.

(Editing by Ralph Boulton, Larry King)

Victim of the AirAsia disaster seen with life jacket. Which raises the question Why?

 Search and rescue team members stand by as a helicopter prepares to land, during search operations for passengers onboard AirAsia flight QZ8501, at Iskandar airbase in Pangkalan Bun district, Indonesia, December 31, 2014.

CREDIT: REUTERS/BEAWIHARTA

(REUTERS) - A BODY RECOVERED ON WEDNESDAY FROM THE CRASHED AIRASIA PLANE WAS WEARICQUESTIONS ABOUT HOW THE DISASTER UNFOLDED.

Rescuers believe they have found the plane on the ocean floor off Borneo, after sonar detected a large, dark object beneath waters near where debris and bodies were found on the surface.

Ships and planes had been scouring the Java Sea for Flight QZ8501 since Sunday, when it lost contact during bad weather about 40 minutes into its flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

Seven bodies have been recovered from the sea, some fully clothed, which could indicate the Airbus A320-200 was intact when it hit the water. That would support a theory that it suffered an aerodynamic stall.

Two bodies, in coffins bedecked with flowers and marked 001 and 002, arrived by an air force plane in Surabaya, TV pictures showed.

The fact that one person put on a life jacket suggests those on board had time before the aircraft hit the water, or before it sank.

And yet the pilots did not issue a distress signal. The plane disappeared after it asked for permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather.

"This morning, we recovered a total of four bodies and one of them was wearing a life jacket," Tatang Zaenudin, an official with the search and rescue agency, told Reuters.

He declined to speculate on what the find might mean. AirAsia Chief Executive Tony Fernandes told reporters there had been no confirmation yet of the sonar image, nor of the discovery of the body wearing a life jacket.

A pilot who works for a Gulf carrier said the life jacket indicated the cause of the crash was not "catastrophic failure". Instead, the plane could have stalled and then come down, possibly because its instruments iced up and gave the pilots inaccurate readings.

"There was time. It means the thing didn't just fall out of the sky," said the pilot, who declined to be identified.

He said it could take a minute for a plane to come down from 30,000 feet and the pilots could have experienced "tunnel vision ... too overloaded" to send a distress call.

Most of those on board were Indonesians. No survivors have been found.

Hernanto, head of the search and rescue agency in Surabaya, said rescuers believed they had found the plane on the sea bed with a sonar scan in water 30-50 meters (100-165 feet) deep. The black box flight data and cockpit voice recorder has yet to be found.

Authorities in Surabaya were making preparations to receive and identify bodies, including arranging 130 ambulances to take victims to a police hospital and collecting DNA from relatives.

"We are praying it is the plane so the evacuation can be done quickly," Hernanto said.

Strong wind and waves hampered the search and with visibility at less than a kilometer (half a mile), the air operation was called off in the afternoon.

"We are all standing by," Dwi Putranto, heading the air force search effort in Pangkalan Bun on Borneo, told Reuters.

"If we want to evacuate bodies from the water, it's too difficult. The waves are huge and it's raining."

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said his priority was retrieving the bodies.

Relatives, many of whom collapsed in grief when they saw the first grim television pictures confirming their fears on Tuesday, held prayers at a crisis center at Surabaya airport.

EXPERIENCED PILOT

The plane was traveling at 32,000 feet (9,753 meters) and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet. When air traffic controllers granted permission for a rise to 34,000 feet a few minutes later, they received no response.

Online discussion among pilots has centered on unconfirmed secondary radar data from Malaysia that suggested the aircraft was climbing at a speed of 353 knots, about 100 knots too slow, and that it might have stalled.

Investigators are focusing initially on whether the crew took too long to request permission to climb, or could have ascended on their own initiative earlier, said a source close to the inquiry, adding that poor weather could have played a part as well.

The Indonesian captain, a former air force fighter pilot, had 6,100 flying hours under his belt and the plane last underwent maintenance in mid-November, said the airline, which is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia.

Three airline disasters involving Malaysian-affiliated carriers in less than a year have dented confidence in the country's aviation industry and spooked travelers.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing in March on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew and has not been found. On July 17, the same airline's Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.

The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002.

(Additional reporting by Cindy Silviana, Charlotte Greenfield and Michael Taylor in JAKARTA/SURABAYA/PANGKALAN BUN, Jane Wardell in SYDNEY and Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE; Writing by Mark Bendeich and Robert Birsel; Editing by Nick Macfie)