Obama in Bali for summit of East Asian nations

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BALI, Indonesia (AP) — Aiming to knit Asian allies ever closer as China's might rises, President Barack Obama is completing a nine-day Asia-Pacific trip with a visit to his boyhood home of Indonesia, where he'll become the first U.S. president to take part in a summit of East Asian nations.

Security issues and the U.S. vision for an increasingly robust American role in Asia are expected to be central themes for Obama's participation in the East Asia Summit in Bali, where the president arrived Thursday night after traveling from Australia. But concerns over China may shadow the president's meetings Friday and Saturday with leaders of smaller Asian nations increasingly alarmed over China's claims to maritime passage and rich oil reserves in the South China Sea.
Obama will also get a chance to meet on the summit sidelines with leaders such as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, with whom the president has an especially close personal relationship, as the U.S. looks to bulk up regional alliances and encourage big roles for friends.
For Obama, the visit will mark a homecoming to the country where he lived for four years as a boy after his mother married an Indonesian man and moved them to Jakarta. Obama visited Jakarta last year and spent time during that visit reflecting on his personal ties to Indonesia, something he probably won't have as much time for on this trip. But Obama's background as a Hawaii native partly raised in Indonesia has shown throughout his trip, which began with an economic summit in Honolulu and ends when he departs Bali on Saturday.
While in Bali, Obama will be aiming to expand commercial ties and export opportunities with fast-growing Asia, looking for ways to underscore the connection between his foreign travels and U.S. jobs with an election year approaching. Nuclear nonproliferation, disaster relief and maritime security also are U.S. priorities.
But behind it all, China looms large.
The centerpiece of Obama's visit to Australia was announcement of a new military agreement that will allow more U.S. military aircraft and a rotating presence of U.S. Marines into Australia, a move largely seen as a hedge against China, which immediately objected.
In Bali, Obama will encounter more allies eager for U.S. support as China and its smaller neighbors argue over the South China Sea, an area that is critical to U.S. interests as well.
He arrives after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton earlier this week signed a declaration with her counterpart from the Philippines calling for multilateral talks to resolve maritime disputes such as those over the South China Sea. Six countries in the region have competing claims, but China wants them to negotiate one-to-one — and chafes at any U.S. involvement.
Clinton said the U.S., during the East Asia Summit, "will certainly expect and participate in very open and frank discussions," including on the maritime challenges in the region. Beijing said Tuesday it opposes bringing up the issue at the summit.
It's not clear how much will be said publicly about the dispute, but U.S. officials are quick to note the importance of the South China Sea, where $1.2 trillion in U.S. trade moves annually, according to Adm. Robert Willard, head of the U.S. Pacific Command. Briefing reporters traveling with Obama this week, Willard called it "a vital interest to the region, a national interest to the United States, an area that carries an immense amount of commerce, and an area in which we must maintain maritime security and peace and not see disruptions as a consequence of contested areas."
On Thursday, China was muted in its public response, saying only that more robust American ties to Australia should not harm other countries.
"China has no opposition to the development of normal state-to-state relations," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in Beijing. "We also hope that when developing normal state-to-state relations, one should take into consideration the interests of other countries as well as the whole region and the peace and stability of the region."
Behind the scenes, however, the more assertive U.S. policy toward China was setting Beijing on edge. The government's Xinhua News Agency said the U.S. feels threatened by China's rise and influence in Southeast Asia and said Obama's goal was "pinning down and containing China and counterbalancing China's development

faktanya terlalu lama menonton TV

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Sebagian besar masyarakat menghabiskan waktunya dengan menonton televisi di rumah apabila tidak ada kesibukan. Ada yang beranggapan, menghabiskan waktu dengan menonton televisi membuat hidup menjadi lebih berkualitas.
Banyak informasi dan pengetahuan yang dapat diperoleh dari menonton televisi. Tetapi pada kenyataannya, terlalu lama menonton layar kaca justru dapat berdampak buruk pada kesehatan fisik dan mental Anda.
Berikut ini adalah sejumlah penyakit yang mungkin bisa menimpa Anda jika terlalu lama menghabiskan waktu di depan televisi :
1. Risiko sakit jantung
Berdasarkan analisis data yang dikumpulkan selama enam tahun dengan melibatkan 8.800 laki-lakidan perempuan di Australia (usia 25 yang tidak memiliki riwayat penyakit jantung), peneliti menemukanbahwa setiap satu jam menonton TV dapat meningkat risiko kematian akibat serangan jantung sebesar 18 % dan risiko kematian akibat kanker sebesar 9 %. Ini berarti bahwa orang yang menonton TV lebih dari empat jam memiliki 80 % peningkatan risiko kematian akibat penyakit kardiovaskuler selama periode waktu 6 tahun dibandingkan orang yang menonton kurang dari 2 jam setiap harinya.
2. Gangguan tidur
Terlalu sering menonton TV dapat mengurangi kadar hormon melatonin di otak yang dapat mempengaruhi ritme alami tubuh sehingga membuat Anda terjaga lebih lamatidur tidak teratur dan lelah. Berkurangnya level melatonin juga kerap dikaitkan dengan pubertas dini pada anak perempuan.
3. Diabetes
Sebuah studi pada perempuan yang diterbitkan Journal of American Medical Association tahun 2003 menunjukkan, risiko diabetes meningkat sebesar 14 % pada mereka yang menonton TV selama 2dalam sehari. Penelitian lain juga menemukan bahwa pria yang menonton TV lebih dari 40 jamseminggu, 3 kali lebih berisiko menderita diabetes tipe 2 daripada pria yang menonton TV kurang dari 1 jam setiap minggunya.
4. Obesitas
Menonton televisi terlampau sering membuat otot Anda tidak bergerak. Jika otot-otot Anda tidak aktif dalam jangka waktu yang sangat lama, dapat mengganggu metabolisme dan menyebabkan kenaikan berat badan.
5. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
ADD adalah gangguan pemusatan perhatian/konsentrasi dan sifat impulsif yang tidak sesuai pada umur anak, bahkan beberapa anak dapat menunjukkan sifat hiperaktif. Penelitian di University of Washington Child Health Institute menemukan bahwa pada anak usia 3 (tiga) tahun yang menonton TVdua jam per hari, 20% berisiko memiliki masalah gangguan perhatian pada usia 7 tahun dibandingkan anak-anak tidak menonton televisi.
6. Peningkatan risiko asma
Di Inggris, sebuah penelitian mempelajari kebiasaan menonton TV lebih dari 3.000 anak-anak mulai usia bayi sampai 11 tahun. Hasil penelitian membuktikan bahwa anak-anak yang menghabiskan 2 jam atau lebih menonton televisi per hari, dua kali lebih berisiko menderita asma.
7. Mindless eating
Banyak orang tidak sadar, bahwa ketika menonton televisi Anda memiliki kesempatan lebih banyakmakan dibandingkan saat melakukan kegiatan lain.
8. Memberi efek negatif pada mental
Menonton TV untuk jangka waktu lama memiliki efek negatif pada perkembangan intelektual anak.American Academy of Pediatrics melarang anak-anak dibawah 2 tahun untuk menonton TV danmerekomendasikan pada anak usia diatas 2 tahun untuk tidak menonton TV lebih dari dua jam sehari.
9. Sakit mata
Menonton televisi terlalu banyak buruk bagi mata Anda, terutama ketika menonton televisi di ruangan gelap. Memfokuskan mata Anda terlalu lama pada salah satu objek dapat membuat mata Anda tegang.
10. Perilaku agresif
Anak-anak kecil lebih mungkin untuk menunjukkan perilaku agresif setelah melihat acara TV atau filmkekerasan. Sebuah penelitian yang melibatkan lebih dari 3.000 anak usia 3 tahun menemukan bahwa anak-anak yang terlalu sering menonton TV, secara langsung atau pun tidakakan berisiko untuk memamerkan perilaku agresif.
11. Kurang sosialisasi
Terlalu sering menonton televisi dapat mengurangi interaksi sosial Anda dengan teman dan keluarga.Hal ini dapat menyebabkan berbagai fobia sosial

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