Indonesia Elections: Eight Things You Need to Know

Supporters of Indonesia's Golkar party perform a traditional dance during a campaign rally ahead of elections in JakartaAFP

World's Third Biggest Election

Indonesia's the number three democracy in the world by size, after the United States and India. 186 million people are eligible to vote and turnout is expected to hit around 70%. Not a bad rate you may think, but it would be down on the last time. A number of high-profile graft scandals have hampered voter enthusiasm this time around

Hospitals preparing for wave of losers

Hospitals and medical clinics across Indonesia have been told to prepare extra beds to cope with a wave of distressed election losers in the wake of Wednesday's vote. The Jakarta Post spoke to Fadhilah Masjaya, director of a hospital in Samarinda.

"Most of the legislative candidates who will be prone [to depression] are beginners who are not ready to lose," he said. "Some of them probably have spent Rp 1 billion [$88,000] alone — then it's wasted and they become distressed"

Fourth Election Since Suharto's Exit

Suharto was president/dictator of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998. These elections mark the fourth vote since the autocrat left the scene, and the third time that Indonesians will directly choose their president

Indonesia's Economy Is on The Up

Indonesia is one of the most promising emerging markets. It's so promising that Jim O'Neill included the country in his latest group of fast-growing economies to watch out for – the Mints. Investors like the big consumer base and the political stability that the country's enjoyed.

Wannabe Presidents Need to be on Their Game

The voters may only be choosing the legislature this time around but a poor performance now could ruin a run for the presidency. Parties that fail to win wither less than 25% of the seats, or less than 20% of the popular vote, will be stopped from running their candidate in July's presidential elections

Indonesia's Elvis is Running for President

White jumpsuit? Check. Electric guitar? Check. Questionable hair? Check. Rhoma Irama, aka the Indonesian Elvis, is among a wave of celebrities pushing for votes in the legislative polls. The Islamist crooner hopes to get the political system all shook up and run for the presidency in July's vote

Opposition Surging to Poll Lead

The opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) are killing it in the polls. One last week had them at 37%. Closest rival Golkar, which used to be led by the notorious figure of Shuarto, is a miserable 20 points below the leaders. Keep your eye out for PDI-P leader Joko Widodo – he's fancied as the country's next president

Sitting President's Party Hurt by Graft Scandal

President Yudhoyono's not allowed to run due restrictions on term limits. But maybe that's for the best. His Democrat Party has been embarrassed by so many corruption scandals that they've slipped to fourth place in the polls

Bahamas Murder Mystery: Four Charred Bodies Discovered on Remote Island

Police in the Bahamas say the badly burnt bodies of four people have been found on the remote southern Anguilla CayGoogleMaps

Police in the Bahamas are trying to establish the identities of four people whose badly burnt bodies were found on a remote, uninhabited islet.

The bodies were retrieved from the barren Anguilla Cay, north of Cuba, by the Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF).

RBDF initially said that tyres were used to set alight the corpses of three men and one woman, who investigators suspected may have been Haitian migrants. Foul play is suspected.

Four bodies were found on one of the Bahamas' more than 700 islands, islets and caysWikiCommons

However police on the tropical paradise later backtracked, saying race, age, sex of the bodies was still to be determined and so was the cause of death.

"At this point we only have minimal information," Assistant Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson told the local Tribune newspaper. "Even though the bodies were burned, we still have not determined the cause of death.

"We believe that the bodies were there from about six to eight weeks," he said.

Authorities said that no sign of a vessel or any evidence suggesting how the four victims had arrived on the cay was immediately found.

"No one lived on the cay as far as we know, so we are also trying to determine how the bodies got there in the first place," Ferguson said.

Ferguson said authorities were first alerted of the presence of some bodies or bones by fishermen sailing in the area, three weeks ago.

A helicopter team was sent to check the isle more than 300km south west of New Providence, the main island of the country made up of more than 700 islands, islets and cays off Florida's eastern coast, but failed to spot the remains.

"Obviously the situation required more time and searching and so we went back with the Defence Force and discovered the bodies," Ferguson said.

The corpses have been transferred for forensic analysis to the Bahamas capital of Nassau.

Tiny 'Chicken Cup' Sells for $36m in Chinese Art Sale Record

The so-called 'chicken cup' fetched a record price at Hong Kong Sotheby's(Reuters)

A tiny porcelain "chicken cup" which has survived from China's Ming Dynasty has sold for $36m at an auction in Hong Kong, setting a new record for a Chinese work of art.

The tiny cup was only eight centimetres (3.1 inches) in diameter and earned its "chicken cup" nickname because it depicts a rooster, a hen and their chicks. The scene is a metaphor for an emperor, his wife and his subjects. It is more than 500 years old.

The porcelain cup was made during the reign of the Ming Dynasty's Chengua Emperor, who ruled from 1465 to 1487.

Nicholas Chow, Sotheby's deputy chairman for Asia said: "There's no more legendary object in the history of Chinese porcelain."

"This is really the holy grail when it comes to Chinese art."

The $36m price tag smashed the previous record paid for a Chinese art work, which was set last October when a bronze Buddha was also sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong for HK$236m ($30.4m, £18.2m.)

The sale marked the end of five record breaking days at Sotheby's Hong Kong, including an artist record for Chinese painter Zhang Xiaogang.

The buyer of the chicken cup, Shanghai based art dealer Liu Yiqian, has an estimated fortune of $900m and is among the top 200 wealthiest people in China.

He opened Liu's Long Museum in Shanghai in 2012 and will most likely display his latest acquisition there.

China: Giant Bubbles to be Built over Beijing Parks to Beat Smog

Orproject's bubbles would provide clean air for BeijingOrproject

Giant bubbles are to be built over parks in Beijing to protect residents from smog and provide areas with clean and fresh air, if architects get their way.

A group of architects have proposed smog-free bubble domes, which will cover botanical gardens and control the temperature and humidity throughout the year, the South Morning China Post reports.

According to the news website, Rajat Sodhi, from the architecture firm Orproject, said: "It's just an infrastructure project like building metro stations and parks - it's applicable in every dense, polluted metropolis where there's a need for open, green spaces throughout the year."

The air inside the bubbles will be filtered to provide fresh air spaces to people in Beijing, who are regularly plagued by dangerous levels of air pollution.

Sports are regularly banned from the city and schools often have to keep children indoors to make sure they do not inhale dangerous levels of the pollution.

The plan would be to cover Beijing's parks in a bubbleOrproject

The project, called Bubbles, is based on biomimetic architecture. These are normally lightweight environmental structures. The design canopy of Bubbles is based on veins in leaves or butterfly wings.

"In nature, there are all kinds of systems designed for a particular performance," Sodhi said. "For instance, the veins in leaves are designed not only to deliver nutrients and create a circulatory logic in the plant, but it also creates structure."

In terms of cost, architects estimate will cost HK$5,150 per square metre, or HK$7,750 (£400) per square metre with solar panels.

Similar projects that inspired Bubbles include the Eden Project in England and Richard Buckminster Fuller's 1960s plans for a sphere covering two miles of Manhattan.

Commenting on the proposal, Sean Quinn, from a design and architecture firm in Hong Kong, welcomed the idea but said there are problems that need to be addressed: "There are no breezes, direct sunlight, rain, snow, changes in temperature, animals, or migratory birds. Going outside is no longer truly outdoors."

The project would cost about £400 per square metreOrproject

However, Sodhi said Bubbles addresses a more basic and immediate need of the people: "Bubbles is about surviving climate change. The media has latched onto Bubbles as a solution to a problem only Beijing has, but it's a concept that could be used anywhere in the world.

"Air quality will take at least 20 years to undo - if it's even possible - and that's if the Chinese and Indian governments changed their policies right now. You have to accept that the climate is changing and we have to do something about it ... in a couple of decades we may have passed beyond the mark where we can reverse anything.

"It's time to colonise the outside instead of just creating indoor spaces. Bubbles is scaling-up architecture, both in terms of technology and in our relationship with the built environment."

War-Torn Syria Facing Major Drought Disaster

Children push a cart with water containers along a damaged street in Aleppo, SyriaReuters

Three years into a devastating civil war, Syrians are facing a severe drought that could ravage the country's wheat production to a record low of 1.7m to 2m metric tonnes, according to the World Food Programme.

4.2 million Syrians already rely on the United Nations (UN) for emergency food rations and millions more will face hunger if seasonal rains don't arrive soon. Dry conditions have affected the Middle East this winter, harming food production across the region.

Wheat and barley are just two of the crops whose prices could rise dramatically if the dry weather persists until the typical harvest time around mid-May. The WFP warned that the conditions could spark a faster exodus, beyond the 9 million internally and externally displaced already.

"A drought could put the lives of millions more people at risk," spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs told journalists in Geneva.

"WFP is concerned about the impact of a looming drought hitting the northwest of the country – mainly Aleppo, Idlib, and Hama, with rainfall less than half of the long term average (since September) and potentially major impacts on the next cereal harvest," she said.

The report outlined the devastating impact of civil war on the Syrian agricultural sector. Irrigation facilities and tractors have been destroyed, while frequent power cuts and the danger posed by fighters has contributed to the sector's near-collapse.

The drought warning comes after the UN announced that it had cut the size of the food parcels that it sends to Syrians, as a result of a shortfall in funding.

The UN's refugee chief Antonio Guterres needs $1.6bn to fund his agency's Syria operations this year, but has so far only received 22% of the money in donations.

India Elections 2014: Five Challenges Incoming Government Will Have to Battle

A woman shows her ink-marked finger after casting her vote in the northeastern state of Assam on 7 April.Reuters

India's month-long elections are under way with 814 million voters casting ballots to elect the next government. The results will be out on 16 May.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is tipped to form the next government, has promised fiscal discipline and banking reforms, among other policy plans, in its election manifesto.

Though the party has not provided details, it is clear that any incoming government will have to face an uphill task of fixing India's economy.

The new government, which is expected to table the annual budget in June or July, will have to chalk out plans to containing the nation's fiscal deficit.

However, the outgoing Congress-led government's austerity drive, which included a $13bn cut in spending, will be hard to sustain, according to Reuters. At the same time, tax collections are not likely to improve immediately with growth hovering at a decade low.

The following are some key areas the incoming government will have to grapple with as it tries to revive growth in Asia's third largest economy:

CAD and Gold

Investors will be tracking New Delhi's moves on the current account deficit (CAD). Three upward revisions to the import duty on gold in 2013, to a record 10%, and restrictions tying purchases to exports helped bring down CAD to an expected 2% of GDP from a record high 4.8% in the previous financial year.

While official gold imports in 2013 were pegged at 750 tonnes, an additional 200 tonnes was believed to have been smuggled into the country, the World Gold Council has estimated.

The BJP has promised to review gold import duties within three months of assuming power.

Monsoon Rains

A new government may have to deal with a factor it cannot control: the El Nino weather pattern normally associated with weak rains, which could pull down agricultural output.

The annual monsoon accounts for 70% of India's rainfall and irrigates more than half its farmland.

Citigroup has estimated that below average rainfall in the June-September monsoon could cut 0.50-0.90 percentage points off its economic growth forecast and push up already high consumer prices.

Boosting Investments

BJP leader Narendra Modi, the chief minister of the Gujarat state and frontrunner for the prime minister's post, has showcased his record of attracting foreign investment to Gujarat.

However, analysts say the Gujarat model would be hard to implement nationwide given that state governments have a huge say in approving projects.

Credit Suisse estimates that only 25% of pending projects depend on the central government's approval.

Stressed Loans

New Delhi will also have to decide on whether or not it should bail out state-run lenders sitting on bad loans totalling $100bn, or some 10% of all loans.

The bulk of these bad loans are associated with infrastructure projects, which have made banks wary in lending.

The BJP has tended to favour privatisation, raising the possibility of further stake sales in government-owned companies.

Israeli Startup StoreDot Charges Smartphone Battery in Just 30 Seconds

StoreDot's smartphone charger can boost a battery back up to 100% charge in around 30 seconds.StoreDot

An Israel-based startup has developed a prototype charger capable of recharging a battery for a Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone in 30 seconds.

StoreDot unveiled the charging device and battery at Microsoft's Think Next conference in Tel Aviv on Monday, claiming that the technology could soon be used for other smartphones.

Although still a very long way off from being used commercially, the technology could hold promise for smartphone battery life improvement in the future.

A demonstration video published by StoreDot shows the charge of the Galaxy S4's battery rise from 27% to 100% in just over 30 seconds.

Inspired by nature

The real advance lies in the battery itself rather than the charger. Bio-organically derived "nanodots" in the electrode (which stores the energy) and the electrolytes (which transfer the energy) allow the battery to charge much faster.

"Our innovative nanotechnology, inspired by nature, changes the rules of mobile device capabilities," said Dr. Doron Myersdorf, CEO of StoreDot. "Our novel approach of utilizing synthesized bio-nanomaterials could shape next-generation devices."

By using naturally occurring compounds, StoreDot claims that it also means the battery is cheap to produce.

For the moment, however, the battery is too bulky to fit within the normal case of the smartphone and is incapable of holding as much charge as a normal Galaxy S4 battery.

The charger too is currently the size of a laptop charger and costs twice that of conventional phone chargers.

StoreDot announced plans to mass produce the battery and charger in late 2016 following further development.

Prototype Offers 30-second Smartphone ChargingIBTimes UK

Hot Shots Photos of the Day: Obama Fans, Ukraine Punch-up, Sea Rescue

Girls look at their hands after shaking hands with US President Barack Obama at Bladensburg High School in Bladensburg, MarylandReuters

Fans record Lady Gaga as she performs onstage at Roseland Ballroom in New York CityGetty

Lady Gaga arrives at Roseland Ballroom in New YorkGetty

A model with an albino python draped over her shoulders walks the catwalk during the 'We Are Handsome' show at Australian Fashion Week in SydneyReuters

Rescue efforts are carried out in a race against time at a flooded coal mine where 22 miners are trapped underground in Qujing, Yunnan Province, ChinaGetty

Rescuers pluck a seriously ill baby girl and her family from a sailboat in the Pacific Ocean, 900 miles from the Mexican coast. Lyra Kaufman had been showing salmonella-like symptoms and was checked by military medical personnel after being transferred onto the USS Vandegrift. The family were starting across the Pacific on a trip around the world when the baby's illness and mechanical problems on the boat forced them to call the Coast GuardReuters

A soldier participates in a water survival test during the joint US-Korea 2014 Best Warrior Competition at Camp Casey in Dongducheon, north of SeoulAFP

District of Columbia firemen look at a cab that smashed through a window at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DCReuters

Dale Earnhardt Jr crashes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort WorthGetty

Julius Randle of the Kentucky Wildcats and Phillip Nolan of the Connecticut Huskies jump for the opening tip during the NCAA Men's Final Four Championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TexasGetty

The Perth Wildcats and the Adelaide 36ers compete in the NBL Grand Final series at Perth Arena, AustraliaGetty

University of Kentucky fans and students take to the streets of Lexington after their team lost to the University of Connecticut in the NCAA Men's National Basketball ChampionshipReuters

A police officer carries an injured University of Kentucky student who was hit on the head with a bottle after the University of Connecticut defeated Kentucky in the NCAA men's National Basketball ChampionshipReuters

A Chinese relative of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 takes part in a prayer service at the Metro Park Hotel in BeijingAFP

Chinese relatives of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 take part in a prayer service at the Metro Park Hotel in BeijingAFP

People hold a candlelight vigil at Amahoro Stadium in Kigali during the 20th anniversary commemoration of the 1994 Rwanda genocideGetty

A Palestinian man walks over building rubble during sunset in the northern Gaza StripReuters

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men wait to fill containers with spring water as they take part in the ritual of "Mayim Shelanu" near Jerusalem. The water is used to prepare matza, traditional unleavened bread eaten during PassoverReuters

A rebel fighter launches a rocket towards a post occupied by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad near IdlibReuters

Armed men in masks stand guard outside the regional administration building in Kharkiv. Ukraine launched an "anti-terrorist" operation in the city and about 70 "separatists" were arrested for seizing the regional administration buildingReuters

Politicians come to blows during a session of the parliament in Kiev, UkraineReuters

Jewish Settlers Attack IDF Post after Yitzhar Illegal Buildings Demolished in 'Act of War'

Settlers attacked a military post in YitzharIDF

Six Israeli policemen were injured, as hundreds of Jewish settlers rioted after security forces demolished several illegal buildings in the West Bank.

Violence erupted as Israel's border police moved to pull down five structures, including two mobile homes in the hard-line Yitzhar settlement, south of the Palestinian city of Nablus.

Settlers set tyres alight, erected road blocks and threw stones at police, in what security sources described as extreme violence.

The rioters also attacked a nearby military post, set up by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to protect Yitzhar.

"The security forces used crowd-dispersing methods," the IDF said. "We take a grave view of any attempt to harm the security forces, who came to the area to do their job and enforce law and order."

Six border policemen suffered from light injuries in the clashes and two had to be taken to hospital for treatment, Israel Radio reported. Eight people were detained by police.

An Israeli member of parliament or Knesset (MK) with the right-wing pro-settlements Jewish Home party condemned police action saying it came in retaliation for a "price-tag" attack against an IDF vehicle in the area.

Just hours before the clashes, suspected Jewish right-wing vandals had slashed the tyres of an IDF jeep for the second time in two days.

MK Orit Struk described the police raid as "collective punishment and destruction of homes as vengeance".

"Puncturing the tyres of vehicles of IDF soldiers and commanders is a criminal act," Struk told Arutz Sheva 7 news.

"This does not justify in any way the declaration of war on the whole community because of the actions of some resident youths, especially when police know how and where to find them and bring them to justice, according to the law."

They "price-tag" is the term for a retaliatory attack against non-Jews or their property carried out by Jewish right-wing extremists.

They usually target Palestinian properties but also Mosques, churches and Israeli military bases have been subject to vandalism.