Indonesia delays controversial anti-smut bill (Reuters)

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's parliament has postponed plans to table a controversial anti-smut bill after mounting opposition from critics who said the bill could hurt local cultural traditions, lawmakers said on Friday.

The anti-pornography bill aims to shield the young from pornographic material and lewd acts, but also contains provisions that could jail people for kissing in public and criminalise many forms of art or traditional culture that hinge on sensuality.

Lawmakers in the world's most populous Muslim nation have so far stopped short of passing the bill because of criticism it would threaten Indonesia's tradition of tolerance and polarise the country.

But some political parties were hoping for the bill's approval this month as the final draft was slated to be tabled in parliament on September 23.

Lawmakers said they did not know when the bill would be tabled.

"There's a tug of war between the pros and cons. People worry too much that this bill will be discriminatory," said Umung Anwar Sanusi, a member of parliament's culture and social affairs commission from the Prosperous and Justice Party (PKS).

The PKS, an Islamic party, supports the bill and one of its members said recently he hoped it would be passed as a "Ramadan gift".

The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan began on September 1 and ends with Eid al-Fitr celebrations.

So far, at least two parties -- the Christian Peace and Welfare Party and the nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) -- have rejected the proposed bill.

Lawmakers watered it down following criticism and street protests over the issue early last year. Critics say it could pave the way for vigilante groups to take the law into their own hands under a pretext of upholding morality.

Opposition mounted in the past week, especially in the predominantly Hindu island of Bali where about a thousand people marched to protest against the bill.

"We are a country of very plural characteristics," said Agung Sasongko, a parliament member from PDI-P, which has rejected the bill.

"And the way people dress from the westernmost tip to the easternmost tip are varied, some more covered and some more revealing."

The draft of the legislation contains provisions that could jail people for kissing in public and criminalise many forms of art or traditional culture that hinge on sensuality.

Nude sculptures and paintings are common in culturally-rich Bali and in the eastern province of Papua some tribal men wear just penis gourds.

(Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia; Editing by Sugita Katyal and Jerry Norton)

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Move aside Cannes, Pyongyang hosts its film fest (Reuters)

SEOUL (Reuters) - Communist North Korea rolled out its version of the red carpet this week when the reclusive state opened its biannual international film festival, allowing its masses to watch forbidden foreign films.

Movies are near to the heart of leader Kim Jong-il, a fan of Daffy Duck, Steven Spielberg and Elizabeth Taylor, who is thought to have a library of about 20,000 films that includes all of the James Bond movies, intelligence sources have said.

Kim, who is suspected of suffering a stroke in recent weeks, usually does not attend the event. But his state's propaganda machine typically runs a news item at the time of the festival praising him a "genius in cinematic art".

In state media reports late on Wednesday monitored in Seoul, the North said the festival "was opened with due ceremony", which included an all-women marching band. Instead of stars in designer clothes, it brought ageing cadres in dark suits to the stage.

In recent years, the North has screened about 70 films from about 30 countries at the festival, that include its own movies as well as films from Europe, the United States and the Asia-Pacific region.

North Koreans can normally be thrown in jail for watching unauthorised foreign movies.

But during the 10-day festival, they have seen films such as "Bend it Like Beckham" and "Whale Rider", which is a far cry from the home-grown product that is heavily steeped in its state's communist ideology.

Analysts said Kim was the driving force behind the film festival, which first opened in 1987 as the North Korean version of Cannes, minus the glamour, money and star power.

The event, once called "The Film Festival of Non-Aligned and other Developing Countries", used to show obscure films from far-flung corners of the world.

In recent editions, it has grown more international, and added TV documentaries as well as movies that play on the global film festival circuit. North Korea stages parties for the festival but participants say the events lack any lustre.

The North gives out awards at the festival with top honours in 2006 going to the German film "Napola", also called "Before the Fall," which tells of a youth who attends an elite Nazi school who then rebels against Hitler's state.

Kim, who did not attend the opening, was obsessed with film production in his younger days. He is suspected of kidnapping one of South Korea's top directors and actresses in 1978 and taking them to the North where he forced them into make movies.

(Additional reporting by Kim Junghyun; Editing by Nick Macfie)

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Old Farmer's Almanac predicts global cooling (Reuters)

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The world is set for a "big chill," possibly a mini-ice age, according to the venerable and whimsical Old Farmer's Almanac, first published in 1792 and the United States' oldest continuously published periodical.

The 2009 edition, published earlier this month, predicts that the earth already has entered a sustained period of global cooling.

True to form, the almanac also includes tips on gardening and how to stay warm all winter with just one log.

"The next 20 years, it's going to be colder," said Sarah Perreault, assistant editor of the Old Farmer's Almanac. "We do recognize that (global cooling) could be offset by greenhouse gasses and other human effects on the earth, but we're trending toward the cool period now."

The almanac is predicting a period of global cooling partly due to the lack of sunspots, a situation which some scientists believe causes cooling on the sun and, subsequently, the earth.

Perreault said the staff still uses the weather prediction method devised by almanac founder Robert B. Thomas, using a combination of solar sciences, meteorology and climatology.

"Obviously we have more technology now," she said. "We have the benefit of having more information than he had, but it's basically the same."

She said the method is not exact. Since the almanac is published so far in advance, it cannot take into account the most up-to-date information on Pacific Ocean oscillations El Nino or La Nina, for instance.

Still, the almanac has an 80 percent success rate for its weather predictions, Perreault said.

In its early years, the almanac was one of the chief sources for weather forecasts for farmers and other businessmen. While it may not hold that distinction anymore, it is still a "great piece of Americana," said Mike Palmerino, meteorologist with DTN Meteorlogix.

Palmerino said the almanac sparked an early interest in the weather in him.

"I find their weather forecasts a curiosity. It's more of something that's just a fun read," he said.

The format for the Dublin, New Hampshire-based almanac has been roughly the same throughout its history, with its yellow cover and hole punched in the upper-left corner for hanging in barns and outhouses.

It is not to be confused with the slightly less august Farmer's Almanac, first published in 1818.

In addition to weather predictions for each day of the year, the Old Farmer's Almanac also includes gardening tips about such things as planting milkweed to attract Monarch butterflies.

And how does the almanac recommend keeping warm throughout the winter with one piece of wood?

Toss the log out of an upstairs window, run downstairs and outside to retrieve it, run back upstairs, then fling it out of the window again.

"Pretty soon you're going to be very hot and you don't need to turn the heat on," Perreault said.

(Reporting by Michael Hirtzer; editing by Jim Marshall)

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