KUALA LUMPUR ~ Malaysia’s tourism minister has said 2007 tourist arrivals will exceed expectations, and advised tour operators to “cool off” as the nation was running out of hotel rooms. Malaysia launched a major campaign to attract visitors on the 50th year of its independence, but the marketing blitz appears to have been too successful. [...]

KURUMATHI ISLANDS ~ Sabrina Chang decided this year to treat herself to a fancy vacation, opting to stay in a thatched bungalow over a lagoon in the Maldives where a swim with exotic fish is as common as taking a stroll. The Maldives is celebrating the 35th anniversary since its first two resorts opened and [...]

SEMINYAK ~ Airbus and Singapore Airlines have agreed to a delivery timetable for the first A380 aircraft, the companies said. The aircraft is planned for handover by Airbus to Singapore Airlines at a ceremony in Toulouse, France, on October 15, they said in a statement. It will be configured with 471 seats in three classes: [...]

By Richard Quest There was a bit of good news for travelers recently when United Airlines, one of the world’s largest carriers, announced it would go fully flat-bed in business class. You could hear the cheer resounding from frequent flyers like me! This decision put paid, once and for all, to the rubbish that all [...]

BEIJING ~ China intends to ban all tobacco advertising by the beginning of 2011, the latest possible date required under an international treaty, state press reported this week. The end of the advertising will be in line with China’s commitments to a World Health Organisation convention, the Xinhua news agency said, citing Jiang Yuan from [...]

WASHINGTON, Aug 28, 2007 (AFP) – Some 36.5 million people lived in poverty last year in the United States, with children and blacks the worst affected, a report by the US Census Bureau showed Tuesday. The number of poor people out of the total US population of 302 million was equivalent to the entire state [...]

DENPASAR ~ The Health Ministry said this week that a 43-year-old woman who died in Bali with symptoms of bird flu was not infected with the virus. “She tested negative,” said an official at the ministry’s bird flu information centre. The woman, who died on Saturday, had been suffering from a serious lung infection, one [...]

By Jelila For The Bali Times SEMINYAK ~ Is your life gently unfolding just the way you want it? Or are you on an out-of-control rollercoaster ride? How much are you enjoying your journey? Find out how to get more juice from the journey you are creating, here. The word destiny denotes an idea of [...]

Yahoo has introduced an upgraded free email service with enhancements that include letting people send text messages from computers to cellphones. The improved Yahoo! Mail being rolled out around the world in the coming weeks is the most extensive overhaul of the web-based email service since it was launched a decade ago. Because the text [...]

DENPASAR (BT) ~ Bali Police have arrested two officials of a company purportedly supplying local manpower to South Korea, alleging they were engaged in fraudulent practices, police said this week. The owner of the company, CV Lintas Indonesia, and its operational manager were arrested, police spokesman Antonious Reniban said at a news briefing on Tuesday. [...]

JAKARTA ~ A key witness in prosecutors’ bid to reopen the case of a murdered rights activist recanted his statement this week, alleging police intimidation. Musician Raymond “Ongen” Latuihamalo said police had pressurized him to say he saw the victim in a cafe with the man accused of the murder. Latuihamalo’s about-face is the latest [...]

KUALA LUMPUR ~ Pirates have freed two Indonesian sailors abducted earlier this month in the Malacca Strait after an undisclosed ransom was paid, an international maritime watchdog said this week. “Ransom was paid. The victims are now being interviewed by the Indonesian authorities,” Noel Choong, the head of the International Maritime Bureau’s reporting centre in [...]