Number 8 in a cut-out-and-keep series Yoga Times With Jelila This week we experience the seventh or Crown Chakra (Sehasara/Sehasrara). Its name means “thousand petal lotus.” It is located at the crown of the head, and its color is golden-white. This chakra relates to divinity – your awareness of and connection with consciousness. Although the [...]

BEIJING ~ In the strictly controlled media world of communist China, “citizen journalism” is beating a way through censorship, breaking taboos and offering a pressure valve for social tensions. In one striking example this month, the internet was largely responsible for breaking open a slave scandal in two Chinese provinces that some local authorities had [...]

By Annabel Thomas For The Bali Times SEMINYAK ~ Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence* There cannot be a scuba diver who has not wondered how it would be to dive bubble-free, without the sound (albeit reassuring sound!) of the air passing in and out [...]

By Ian Timberlake Agence France-Presse SINGAPORE ~ Indonesia is open for business, the chairman of the country’s investment board told the World Economic Forum on East Asia this week. Muhammad Lutfi told global business leaders the country has moved to address concerns about corruption, red tape and legal uncertainty while opening its doors to foreign [...]

JAKARTA ~ Billions of dollars of Australian investment to Indonesia hinges on new legislation being passed through Indonesia’s parliament, Australia’s trade minister said during a visit here this week. Trade Minister Warren Truss said that about AUS$2.5 billion (US$2.1 billion) was currently invested in Indonesia by Australian companies. Read entire article… »

SINGAPORE ~ Betting on major sporting events is illegal in much of Asia but it remains rampant, and police across the region are on full alert ahead of the Asian Cup finals. Asians like a flutter with money changing hands at market stalls or in underground gambling dens, often run by organized crime syndicates. More [...]

JAKARTA ~ The authorities have grounded nine airlines that failed to improve their safety record, the Transport Ministry said this week. Four airlines had their operating licenses revoked and five other small airlines were suspended for failing to improve their safety in the past three months, an official at the Air Transport Directorate General’s Office [...]

JAKARTA ~ A former minister should be jailed for six years for allegedly obtaining more than US$1 million through corruption during his tenure, prosecutors said this week. Former fishery and marine affairs minister Rokhmin Dahuri had collected some Rp11.35 billion ($1.25 million) from officials in his ministries, prosecutor Tumpak Simanjuntak said on Wednesday. He had [...]

When Thailand floated its currency on July 2, 1997, it meant to ease the immediate pressure on its faltering economy. Instead, it set off a chain reaction that destroyed many of the gains of Asia’s “economic miracle” years as currencies, stocks, commodities and property prices went into freefall and governments scrambled to limit the damage. [...]

JAKARTA ~ Indonesian and Australian leaders are to consider carrying out a feasibility study on drafting a free trade agreement (FTA), their trade ministers said this week. A group of experts working under a trade and investment framework created in 2005 recommended during a visit by Australian Trade Minister Warren Truss that the neighbors launch [...]

SINGAPORE ~ Indonesia is better placed to withstand external shocks to its economy 10 years after the Asian financial crisis, the country’s trade minister has said. “One of the main vulnerabilities of the Asian crisis was the financial system and the crisis of course took a huge toll on our financial system,” Mari Pangestu told [...]

SINGAPORE ~ Low-cost airlines in the Asia Pacific are expected to double market share to 25 percent by 2012 after a slew of aircraft orders, as they increasingly challenge their full-service rivals, a regional consultancy has said. Based on known orders, the region’s budget carrier fleet would increase from about 300 aircraft with 45,000 seats [...]