Citibank Debuts App Designed For iPad

Citibank has launched its first consumer banking application specifically designed for Apple Inc.bizWatch Apple Inc. Latest in the Business Journals LinkedIn success demands effortSlideshow: Biggest U.S. LinkedIn GroupsApple has more cash than U.S. Treasury Follow this company ’s iPad tablet.

The app allows customers to trace and analyze their dollars with graphs along with other visual representations of accounts and transactions. Users can check their balances, control cash flow, settle payments, transfer funds, access rewards and find nearby Citibank ATMs and bank branches.

Unlike other apps for that iPad that mimic mobile phone and personal computer design, Citibank for iPad takes advantage of tablet computer abilities to supply its new interactive features, according to the company.

Customers can analyze personal spending habits with automatically generated charts that detail their purchases and compare those habits with general consumer data that may be filtered by location, age bracket, income bracket and get category.

And with the app comes immediate access to customer service via Twitter and updated content from Citi Personal Wealth Management and ladies & Co., a financial service for ladies.

“Our iPad app is all about listening to our clients and knowning that they need their digital banking experience to be more engaging and dynamic - beyond the standard static tables you discover along with other iPad apps,” said Tracey Weber, Citi internet and mobile banking head, North America consumer banking.

Part of Citigroup Inc.bizWatch Citigroup Inc. Latest from The Business Journals LinkedIn success demands effortSlideshow: Biggest U.S. LinkedIn GroupsBank of America's CEO Moynihan asks Congress to act on debt ceiling Follow this company , Citibank has 12 financial services branches in the Dayton region.

Citigroup is the nation’s largest third-largest banking company. In terms of assets, Bank of AmericabizWatch Bank of America Latest in the Business Journals Developer Defortuna sells Key Biscayne home for MBofA sued for securities fraud by institutional investorsBofA accused of securities fraud by institutional investors Follow this company held $2.27 trillion in assets at the end of last year ...

Citibank has launched its first consumer banking application specifically designed for Apple Inc.bizWatch Apple Inc. Latest in the Business Journals LinkedIn success demands effortSlideshow: Biggest U.S. LinkedIn GroupsApple has more cash than U.S. Treasury Follow the corporation ’s iPad tablet.

The app allows customers to trace and analyze their dollars with graphs and other visual representations of accounts and transactions. Users can check their balances, control income, pay bills, transfer funds, access rewards and discover nearby Citibank ATMs and bank branches.

Unlike other apps for the iPad that mimic cell phone and private computer design, Citibank for iPad takes advantage of tablet computer abilities to supply its new interactive features, based on the company.

Customers can analyze personal spending habits with automatically generated charts that detail their purchases and compare those habits with general consumer data that may be filtered by location, age group, income bracket and get category.
Along with the app comes direct access to customer support via Twitter and updated content from Citi Personal Wealth Management and Women & Co., a financial service for women.

“Our iPad app is about listening to our clients and understanding that they need their digital banking experience to become more engaging and dynamic - beyond the standard static tables you find with other iPad apps,” said Tracey Weber, Citi internet and mobile banking head, The united states consumer banking.
A part of Citigroup Inc.bizWatch Citigroup Inc. Latest in the Business Journals LinkedIn success demands effortSlideshow: Biggest U.S. LinkedIn GroupsBank of America's CEO Moynihan asks Congress to act on debt ceiling Follow this company , Citibank has 12 financial services branches within the Dayton region.

Citigroup is the nation’s largest third-largest banking company. In terms of assets, Bank of AmericabizWatch Bank of America Latest from The Business Journals Developer Defortuna sells Key Biscayne home for MBofA sued for securities fraud by institutional investorsBofA sued for securities fraud by institutional investors Follow this company held $2.27 trillion in assets after last year, while JPMorgan Chase & Co.bizWatch JPMorgan Chase & Co. Latest from The Business Journals LinkedIn success demands effortSlideshow: Biggest U.S. LinkedIn GroupsFirst Financial profit declines, fill up Follow this company had $2.12 trillion in assets at year-end, Citigroup had $1.91 trillion and Wells Fargo & Co.bizWatch Wells Fargo & Co. Latest from The Business Journals Home Foreclosed? Lender may bulldoze itFinancial forumEmory Point shows intown apartments are hot Follow this company had $1.26 trillion. All those banks have operations within the Dayton region.

Fifth Third BancorpbizWatch Fifth Third Bancorp Latest from The Business Journals Follow this company ranks because the largest bank in the Dayton market, with $4.33 billion in local deposits.
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Toyota Prius Alpha Already Booked 25,000 Units

Prius Alpha (wagon), which was launched late a week ago (13 / 5) in Japan, is at great demand. The proof, a day after it was launched, orders had reached 25,000 units, an eight-fold Toyota targets which had pegged 3,000 units per month. Alpha or MPV Prius, in Japan, priced 2.35 million to 3.305 million yen (USD 248.5 - USD 243.7 million).
Based on Reuter, our prime consumer interest in Japan for this car show consumers already concerned with gasoline prices still skyrocket. Because of the extremely high interest, making the Toyota dither. Because the company is in the process leading to normal production.

Alpha can also be called the Prius wagon emerges in two interior configurations: 5-passenger (seat two rows) and 7-penupang (seat three rows). All variants equipped with the latest hybrid system, namely the Toyota Hybrid System II (THS II), the Prius better aerodynamics and weight and increasing fuel consumption is claimed 31 km per liter.

This car is going to be launched in the U.S. as V Prius next summer. Being in Europe, was named the Prius + (variant 7-passenger), will be launched mid the coming year.

Meanwhile, competitors Prius, Honda Fit Shuttle postpone an organized sale in Japan on 18 March. Honda spokesman said, the Shuttle Fit already being manufactured in small quantities this week, but the date of sale is not established. Honda also stop order the product because the earthquake in Japan, 2 months ago

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Women's World Cup final preview: Japan v USA

For neutral observers the choice of who to support in the Women's World Cup final is a straightforward one. The two-times World Cup winners USA, the powerhouse of women's football who have appeared in all four Olympic finals? Or Japan, whose journey to a first final has gripped a nation and provided a much-needed source of optimism for a country still grieving following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March?

In terms of women's football it's David against Goliath, but one where David comes with an emotional backstory that resonates with anyone with even the smallest hint of compassion.

Along with the golfer Ryo Ishikawa, who has promised to donate all tournament earnings this season to the disaster fund, this Japan side have grown to be global ambassadors for a nation.

All major sporting tournaments tend to be full of empty rhetoric about "winning it for the people back home" or "the pride of playing for your country" but it is no overstatement to say the Japanese are rivaling the events of last March at the forefront of their minds.

Before their quarter-final from the hosts Germany, the Japan coach, Norio Sasaki, showed his squad a slideshow of images of the devastation caused across the country by the tsunami.
These were images the players had all seen before - most had lived through them just four months ago - however the wounds are so raw that to revisit the event led to an instant reaction.

The Nadeshiko - the Japanese for beautiful flower - beat Germany 1-0 in what was the shock consequence of the tournament. Or at least it was so far.

But emotion isn't the only reason the public across Germany have been drawn to Japan. The team have progressed through the tournament playing a brand of high-octane, pressing and passing football that has led Sasaki to grow weary of knocking back questions from reporters desperate to compare his side with Barcelona.

That may seem like a slightly lofty comparison to those who have watched a tournament where, at times, the standard of football has been average at best. But with Japan, where the national women's league is semi-professional, the intent to play good football is clearly there, even if they are occasionally hampered by a lack of ability.

The US too have their own dramatic stories which have led to an increasing interest in the country, not least the redemptive journey of goalkeeper Hope Solo, who has become an unlikely hero in a squad packed full of the stars of the women's game.

Solo was sent home from the 2007 World Cup after criticising team-mate Briana Scurry, her rival for the goalkeeping position. Solo had played every game of the tournament until Greg Ryan, the US coach, started with Scurry in the semi-final against Brazil as he felt her added years of experience would be crucial in such a big game.

The plan backfired - the US lost 4-0 - and Solo was sent home before the third-place play-off against Norway for stating that she would have made the saves that Scurry failed to.

The expulsion came not long after the death of Solo's father and one of her close friends and she has spoken of how low she felt following her return home.

She earned her place back to the squad, however, even if the damage never quite healed. "Things will never entirely be the same [with my team-mates]," Solo told Men's Journal. "And that's life."

This tournament has gone a long way towards rectifying that. Solo's penalty save in the quarter-final against Brazil redeemed her in much the same way as Stuart Pearce's penalty against Spain in Euro 96 allowed him to bury his past.

With her good looks, catchy name and Hollywood story, Solo has become a star. The Oklahoma City Thunder player Kevin Durant has promised to name his first child after her; a US marine serving in Afghanistan recorded a YouTube video inviting her to the Austrian Officers Ball; spectators (of both sexes) in the stands in Germany wave marriage proposals scrawled on card and in the space of a week she went from having 10,000 followers on Twitter to over 110,000.

The result on Sunday may be somewhat irrelevant to the success of the tournament as far as the two finalists are concerned.

Once Solo returns from Germany she can expect to become the poster face of women's football in the United States. In Japan the poster contains the coach Sasaki and the 21 women in his squad.

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Kawasaki Disease Incident Proves Facebook Isn’t All Evil

Going for a critical stance on Facebook feels painful because most of us are a part of that billion-user-plus beast. If we’re critical from the world’s largest social network, tend to be we criticizing ourselves?Because the birth of Mark Zuckerberg‘s fat opportunistic cyber baby, the debate over Facebook’s social and political consequences has got insanely overcrowded. Is Facebook sucking our souls? Or perhaps is it a boon to our humanity connecting us in newer, more intimate ways? After seeing “Social Network” Zadie Smith wrote an editorial on Facebook and Zuckerberg in which she said:

“When a person becomes a set of data on a website like Facebook, they're reduced. Everything shrinks. Individual character. Friendships. Language. Sensibility. In a way it’s a transcendent experience: we lose the body, our messy feelings, our desires, our fears.”

But good-news stories do surface every so often about Facebook. Like the story Slate ran two days ago concerning the 4-year-old boy whose life was probably saved after his mother posted several photos of a rash which doctors had misdiagnosed. A few of her medically knowledgeable Facebook friends recognized the rash as the extremely dangerous Kawasaki disease.However it was only last year when another major story surfaced about a Facebook kill list. After a hit list was posted to Facebook in Columbia, people on the list started arriving dead, most of them teenagers.

Taken together, the two stories prove the two most extreme consequences of hyperactive social networking: With speed and efficiency, it can be used to save lives, and to take them away. But can Facebook itself be held responsible for either? Or can Facebook hide behind human behavior, as in the old NRA maxim, “Guns don’t kill people, people do.”

As Zadie Smith points out, Facebook, with its illusion of connectivity, can and does reduce us. It reduced a woman’s sick child into a face having a rash-albeit one lucky enough to get diagnosed by some knowledgeable Facebook friends. Additionally, it can help to eliminate several Columbian teenagers into a public kill list.
Of course, the vast majority of us billion-plus users exist via Facebook approximately those two extremes. It hasn’t saved a loved one, and we haven’t been assassinated. We can exist simply as old average, digital reductions your real selves.And then for those of us who haven’t been murdered or saved from a potentially deadly disease, it’s still of the same quality a tool as ever to voyeuristically stalk exes and people we’re too intimidated to approach in real life.

Stalk away, people. We're not watching. Trey Parker and Matt Stone had it right:

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Legionnaires’ disease cases traced to Las Vegas hotel

Six cases of Legionnaires’ disease have been traced back to a Las Vegas hotel, a spokesperson for the Southern Nevada Health District said.

The Aria Resort and Casino has released a letter explaining that the guests in questions stayed at the hotel when there were elevated levels of Legionella bacteria, which causes the disease, in the water supply.

The disease, which is similar to pneumonia, sickens between 8,000 and 18,000 people a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It can be serious and causes deaths in between 5 percent and 30 percent of cases. It is usually treated with antibiotics.

This is not the first outbreak this year. The disease was blamed for sickening about 200 guests of the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles, Reuters reported. A hot tub was fingered as the culprit.

The bacteria got its name from a 1976 outbreak at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia that eventually killed 34 people, the New York Times reported.

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Nordstrom Sued The Building Owner Porland TMT

Being left to swing within the wind usually isn't a good thing.

That's especially true of cranes -- depending on your point of view.

Parr Financial Oregon, the investment firm that owns the Nordstrom building in downtown Portland, filed a nuisance and trespass complaint this week in Multnomah County Circuit Court against neighboring Fox Tower-owner TMT Development and, ultimately, its big orange crane.

The crane, the lawsuit alleges, has been sitting fairly idle over the past year at Southwest Park Avenue and Yamhill Street since the recession stalled Tom Moyer's office tower project known as Park Avenue West. But more bothersome, it seems, than the gaping hole in the ground is the crane's tendency to blow over the Nordstrom building whenever there's a good gust of wind.

Representatives of Parr Financial declined to remark on the case, and Vanessa Sturgeon, president of TMT Development, did not return a call seeking comment.

The suit contends the crane's arm -- or jib as it's also known as -- intrudes upon Nordstrom's airspace and it is asking a legal court for damages, costs and a ruling that forces TMT to operate and maintain the crane in such a way that it no longer trespasses.

Interestingly, experts say, that swing is what makes a tower crane safer.

"When there's no operator in the seat, tower cranes have to weather vane, which means swing in the wind," said Eddie Zawislak, a power crane salesman for the Coast Crane Co. of Seattle. Swinging, he said, allows the crane to withstand more wind and minimize the possibility it will tip over. When left to move freely, most tower cranes can withstand winds of as much as 100 mph. Still, he said, a couple of fatal crane accidents in recent years may have fueled fears. In 2006, there was a fatal accident in a suburb of Seattle, where Nordstrom is based. The Bellevue crane collapse was ultimately blamed on faulty design and installment.

"When people see a tower crane, they don't want it falling over on their building," he said. "It's more of a safety concern by people who don't understand tower crane engineering."

In other trespassing crane cases, industry experts say, the existing landowner is usually given a certain amount of airspace ownership -- often the distance between the current building's height and the height that building codes would allow new construction to go on that lot.

That's where cranes can't go. Unless, of course, there's a settlement, which Zawislak yet others say there often is. That could entail developing a rental agreement for the crane's in time that airspace.

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Alison Brie Poses As Pin-Up In 'Community' Shoot

Alison Brie

Alison Brie, the American actress and star of cult-comedy series 'Community', appears in a raunchy new pin-up shoot for GQ magazine. Joined by co-star Gillian Jacobs, Alison struck various suggestive poses for the magazine's comedy issue.

Brie, who plays prescription drug addict Annie Edison on 'Community', stripped down to her underwear for the tongue-in-cheek shoot. The actress said posing for the shots proved trickier than she was expecting, saying. "With a shoot like this, you're negotiating these positions together.Can you move your crotch a little to the left? Really get it up there". Gillian, who plays high-school drop-out Britta Perry, added, "The next day we were texting each other, 'Are you sore, too?". 'Community', which also stars Chevy Chase and stand-up comedian Joel Mchale, follows the lives of a group of eccentric students at the Greendale Community College. The show was recently renewed for a third season by Nbc, much to the delight of fans. The new series is scheduled to premiere in the U.S. in September.

Alison Brie, who was listed as number 49 on Maxim magazine's 2011 Hot 100 list, recently appeared in the horror movie 'Scream 4'. She also starred as the wife of 'Peter Campbell' on Amc's acclaimed series 'Mad Men'.

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New Food Labels Made Compulsory to Keep Europe Healthy

Following a groundbreaking deal on compulsory new food labels clinched on Wednesday, Europe look toward getting clear info on the nutritional and energy content of merchandise, as well as country of origin.After many years of debate, the European parliament approved legislation to harmonize compulsory data, including use-by dates and nutritional information key in the battle to battle mounting

Within five years, labels on supermarket shelves will need to show energy content along with fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugar, protein and salt levels -- all expressed per 100g or 100 ml.

With a minimum font size of 1.2 mm, the labels will be readable, and 14 recognised allergens is going to be highlighted in bold in all lists of ingredients.

Existing country-of-origin regulations, now necessary for beef, honey, essential olive oil and fresh fruit and vegetables, is going to be extended to fresh meat from pigs, sheep, goat and poultry.

Fake foods -- such as cheese lookalikes actually made from vegetable oils and water and hardly any milk -- will also be clearly labelled, with the cheese tagged "made of vegetable oil".

Likewise meat or fish comprising meat or fish parts is going to be labelled "formed meat" or "formed fish" in fonts 75 % the size of the brand name.

"If a yoghurt has a picture of fruit onto it, it will have to contain fruit and not merely aromas or colouring substances," said rapporteur Renate Sommer, a German conservative MEP.

In 3 years the European Commission will look at whether to add "trans fats" associated with high cholesterol levels and heart disease and add listed ingredients to alcohols.

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Germany Allows Genetic Testing of Embryos

Lawmakers in Germany uphold the best of would-be parents to genetically test embyros after IVF.

The Bundestag lower house of parliament voted to allow so-called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis of embryos when one of the partners were built with a serious hereditary disease in the household.
Each case will also be subject to review by an ethics commission and mandate counselling for the concerned couple before testing can be carried out.

Parliament took up the delicate issue after a federal court last year allowed testing by partners having a genetic predisposition to serious illnesses.

Such testing, which is expected to apply to a few hundred cases each year, had always been outlawed in Germany.
After a three-and-a-half-hour, at times emotional debate, 326 deputies cast their ballots towards allowing genetic testing versus 260 who required a strict ban. Eight abstained.
The head of the German Medical Association, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, stressed that such testing would by no means become routine in the event of in vitro fertilisation, or used for sex selection.

"There will be no designer babies as well as no so-called saviour babies used as spare parts for a sick child," he said.However the chairman from the Episcopal Conference, Roman Catholic Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, slammed the vote as "a violation of the principle of respecting human dignity" enshrined in Germany’s Basic Law.

Deputy Wolfgang Zoeller of the conservative Christian Social Union, who voted against the law, said he feared it would set a standard that would lead to discrimination against disabled children.

"Parents should not have to apologise if they do not have a so-called perfect baby," he said.

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India, US to Hold Economic Dialogue Next Week

India’s Finance Minister will hold high level economic talks next week with U.S. government and business leaders in Washington. Both governments are looking at ways to step up trade and investment.       

Pranab Mukherjee’s talks with U.S Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and business executives come at a time when India’s economy is slowing as it grapples with high inflation, rising interest rates, and corruption scandals.

Foreign investment

Analysts say Mukherjee will seek to assure foreign investors in Washington that India remains an attractive investment destination despite these challenges, and its economy will grow at a buoyant pace despite the slight slowdown. 

Anjan Roy, an economist at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, says trade and investment between India and the United States, though growing, is considered below potential considering the size of their economies. 

“So far as trade is concerned, it is not much to write home about, it is not too high I must say," said Roy.

For India, the priority is to win more foreign direct investment, particularly in its infrastructure sector. New Delhi needs billions of dollars to build highways, ports and industrial plants as its economy grows at over eight percent. But foreign investment in the past year actually declined, raising some worries.  

Closed economy

Part of the reason is that many sectors of India’s economy remain closed, such as retail and insurance.  

Analysts say Minister Mukherjee will likely face calls from the United States to open up these two sectors, which are considered key growth markets for U.S. companies. At the moment, India only allows foreign direct investment in single brand retail.

Mukherjee is expected to assure investors that India is trying to build a political consensus around the contentious issue of opening up its economy.  

However, economist Roy warns that it will still take time for India to allow retail giants such as Walmart to enter the country. 

“These are being talked about, discussed very deeply in India," he said. "It is very difficult to give out very quick policy responses on these things because political ramifications and political compulsions are there. But I am sure we are making some progress towards opening up.”

Economic reforms

India's congress-led government was expected to introduce economic reforms after winning a second term in 2009. But under pressure from a series of corruption scandals, it is taking a cautious approach to further economic liberalization.

Mukherjee’s visit to the United States is part of a high-level economic dialogue started by the two countries two years ago.

India-U.S. trade grossed $45 billion last year. Analysts say trade volumes in the coming years will increase, largely due to purchase of defense equipment by India from the United States. Earlier this month, India approved its biggest defense deal with the United States - the purchase of 10 Boeing transport aircraft.

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Indian Sailors Held by Pirates Return Home

Six Indian sailors freed after being held for nearly a year by Somali pirates have returned home.

Family members met the sailors during an emotional reunion at the New Delhi airport Friday.

Pirates freed the crew, which included 11 Egyptians, four Pakistanis and one Sri Lankan — after receiving a $2.1 million ransom, negotiated with the help of a Pakistan-based rights group.

Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said the government was relieved with the sailors' release and thanked Pakistan for its help. He also called for more international coordination in fighting piracy.

The freed sailors recounted their ordeal after arriving home in India, saying they were tortured and nearly starved.

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Report: Phone Offers Clues to bin Laden's Pakistan Links

A leading U.S. newspaper reports a cell phone found during the raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan contained contacts to a militant group that has "strong ties" to Pakistan's intelligence agency.

Citing unnamed U.S. officials, The New York Times said the discovery of the phone indicated that the group, Haradat-ul-Mujahideen, was part of bin Laden's support network within Pakistan.

The report said the cell phone belonged to bin Laden's "trusted courier" who was killed along with the al-Qaida leader in the May 2 raid by Navy Seals on bin Laden's compound in the garrison town of Abbottabad.

According to the Times, U.S. analysts have determined that Harakat commanders had called Pakistani intelligence officials, but there was no "smoking gun" proving Pakistan's spy agency had a role in protecting bin Laden.

One U.S. official is quoted as saying the phone was "a serious lead" in determining how bin Laden was able to live for years in a town dominated by the Pakistani military.

On Friday, officials reported that bin Laden's youngest widow, Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, who is also known as Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, was expected to leave Pakistan for her native country, Yemen.

Pakistani authorities detained Abdullfattah and two other of the al-Qaida leader's wives during last month's U.S. raid.

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US Drone Strike Kills 15 Militants, Says Pakistan

Pakistani intelligence officials say a U.S. missile attack close to the Afghan border has killed at least 15 people.

Friday's drone attack was the first reported strike since Monday's pre-dawn U.S. commando raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Authorities say the attack targeted a compound in North Waziristan, a stronghold of Taliban and al-Qaida militants on the border with Afghanistan.

U.S. drone strikes against militants based in Pakistan's tribal belt have been a source of friction between the two countries and Friday's strike could further inflame tensions between Islamabad and Washington.

Anti-US protests

And, with anti-U.S. protests taking place across the country on Friday, security has been tightened further to quell any potential violence. Several Islamist groups demonstrated Friday against bin Laden's killing, saying more figures like him would arise to wage holy war against the United States.

Speaking to journalists outside the parliament building Friday, Chaudry Nisar, the head of the opposition in Pakistan's national assembly, called on the government to clarify outstanding questions about Osama Bin Laden and the U.S. raid that led to his death.

Nisar says the nation's honor has been trampled by the U.S. raid, and he says and for the government to conduct business as usual is not acceptable. He says someone must be found responsible and heads must roll.

Unpopular drones

U.S. drone strikes are extremely unpopular in Pakistan because of the perception of high civilian deaths from the missile attacks which are targeted militants along the Afghan border. Many Pakistanis feel strongly they are a violation of the country's sovereignty.

The Pakistani government said bin Laden's death was a milestone in the fight against militancy although it expressed objections to the raid which killed him as a violation of its sovereignty.

Mounting criticism

Since the covert mission, there has been widespread criticism in Pakistan about how the government has released information on the raid, and about the presence of Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil.  Many Pakistani's say the raid also exposed weaknesses in the country's defense, something Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir denied on Thursday. 

"There is no reason for Pakistanis to feel demoralized," he said. "We are proud of our achievements. We are proud of our defense capabilities. We are proud of our armed forces. We are proud of our track record in anti-terror, which is equal to none. And I think we have to look to the future and not be mired in the past," Bashir said.

Pakistan has denied any knowledge of the al-Qaida leader's whereabouts. On Thursday the army threatened to cut intelligence and military cooperation with the United States if it mounted more attacks on Pakistani soil.

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15 Bodies Recovered in Indonesian Plane Crash

Indonesian officials say a passenger plane has crashed into the sea in the country's east, killing all of the 27 people believed to be on board.

The plane crashed Saturday in the eastern province of West Papua. Officials said it had been trying to land in the town of Kaimana amid heavy rain and limited visibility.

Rescuers said they recovered 15 bodies from the plane, which was operated by the state-owned Merpati Nusantara Airlines.

The French news agency, AFP, quoted a navy officer involved in the search as saying the remaining passengers were trapped in the wreckage.

Authorities told media outlets it appeared there were no survivors.

The vast Indonesian archipelago relies heavily on air transport and has one of Asia's worst air safety records.

Merpati is one of a number of Indonesian airlines the European Union has banned from operating in European airspace

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