DENPASAR  The resort island of Bali is expected to organize 17 festivals, 14 of which are already approved by the Minister for Arts and Tourism, to celebrate the “Visit Indonesia Year 2008″, according to local media on Sunday. The festivals were expected to attract tourists to visit Bali, Antara news agency quoted head of the Bali Chapter of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI) Ir Tjokorda Oka Artha Ardhana Sukawati as saying.

The promotion for the events had also been made, he said in Bali. Oka said his side had set the target of drawing 1.9 million foreign tourists from the events in 2008. The target was set based on the arrivals of 1,664,047 foreign tourists in 2007. Last year, about 5.5 million foreigners visited Indonesia, which was below the target of 6 million. The government wanted to have 7 million foreign visitors in 2008.

JAKARTA  A 29-year-old Indonesian woman from Tangerang, west Jakarta, has died of bird flu while another 38 year-old woman from West Jakarta has been infected by the virus. This puts the total death to 103 out of 126 contracted people, Health Ministry said here Monday. “All of their laboratory tests showed that all the women were positively infected by the lethal disease,” said Lili Sriwahyuni Sulistyowati, head of information center of the ministry.

“All their laboratories tests were positive on Sunday afternoon,” she said. Both persons had historical contact with fowl. The 29-year-old woman who died on Saturday fell ill at January 22 with the symptoms of cough, fever and respiratory problems. On January 28 she was admitted to a hospital in Tangerang and one day later she was shifted to the bird-flu designed hospital of Persahabatan in East Jakarta, the official said.

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