French pop star delivers own first baby

A French pop star at age 66 delivered his first child unaided when his 27-year-old partner went into labour at their US home in the middle of the night, he said on French radio Monday.

Michel Polnareff, a singer noted for his striking curly mop of blond hair and big white sunglasses, stepped in as emergency midwife for Danyellah, the mother of his first child, at their home in Los Angeles on December 28.

"I found myself in the position of having to deliver my son. I had no choice. The midwife was late," he told radio station Europe 1. The couple had planned for the child to be born at home.

"I didn't panic for a moment. I wasn't at all worried," he added. "One thing I knew was that the baby`s neck is very fragile and I absolutely had to support the head. I rushed to put my hand under his head. It was such a beautiful and unexpected moment."

Polnareff first came to fame with the hit song "Le Poupee Qui Fait Non" ("The Doll Who Says No") in 1966 and saw success outside France, moving to the United States in 1973. He said the baby had not yet been named.

Pertamina needs new exploration technology

To boost its production in 2011, PT Pertamina EP, a subsidiary of state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, needs not only to find new reserves but also a new exploration concept and technology, an analyst said.

"In theory, there are two conditions Pertamina EP must meet to achieve its production target for 2011, namely find new potential gas and oil blocks or basins and make a breakthrough in oil and gas exploration technology," Dr Iskanda Zulkarnaen, a geotechnology analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said here Wednesday.

He said the conventional exploration technology used so far could not optimally explore the available oil and gas basins in Indonesia. "There are 60 basins in Indonesia but only few of them prove to hold viable oil and gas reserves. But with new technology it will be possible to find reserves not only in the basins but also in any existing sub-basins," Iskandar said.

Therefore, a new exploration concept was essential for Pertamina EP to find hidden oil and gas potentials in the available basins, he said. However, new technology might not be cheap and be kept by certain parties to gain more profit from the oil and gas sector, he said. "If Pertamina EP could achieve its production target, it would indirectly reduce the country`s need to import oil and gas and make it easier for the company to meet the domestic demand for oil and gas," he said.

The support of the government, local administrations and local residents around any newly discovered basins was needed for Pertamina EP to reach its oil and gas production target, he said. Previously, after exceeding this year`s production target, PT Pertamina EP was ready to increase oil production from 130,200 barrels per day in 2010 to 132,000 barrrels per day next year.

Its president director, Salis Aprilian, that crude and condensate production in 2011 was expected to reach 132,000 barrels per day or a rise by 1.4 percent from 130,000 barrels per day in 2010. "However because of a natural decline of 18 percent, production actually increased by 20 percent," he said. The quite steep drop happened because most of the oil wells were old and some of them had even produced 30 percent less, he said.

Leading "Spider-man" actress quits show

In the latest disappointment for the ambitious Broadway production of Spider-Man, one of the lead actresses who suffered a concussion during its first preview performance is quitting the show.

Natalie Mendoza, who plays the villainess Arachne and is the second lead female role after Spider-Man's girlfriend, has been working out an exit agreement for the past several days, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. A spokesman for the production did not return an e-mail seeking comment.

Mendoza was one of four actors who was so far been injured in the $65 million production that features hi-tech stunts and flying sequences. The actress, who is a major presence in several of the show's songs, written by U2's Bono and The Edge, was struck on the head by a rope offstage during its Nov. 28 preview.

She returned for a performance but then took several weeks off. Then, last week, she posted a Twitter message when a leading stuntman on the show was injured after he plunged from a high platform, saying "a light in my heart went dim tonight."

The stuntman is recovering in hospital after breaking ribs and fracturing vertebrae, causing Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark to suspend several shows over safety concerns. The production is still in previews, allowing producers to warn the audience it is not seeing a finished product. Its current official opening is scheduled for Feb. 7.