KUALA LUMPUR ~ Malaysia has taken delivery of its first submarine as part of a plan to establish a fleet of the vessels, according to the French company that built it. The Royal Malaysian Navy received the Scorpene submarine in the French port of Toulon and a second is scheduled for delivery in late 2009, [...]

The infrastructure in the island really seems to have been put in place in order to improve people’s lives. One can see the will of public powers to care about order and respect of the population. Though this must be kept in mind, the infrastructure needs improvement in the future to cover the different areas [...]

By Paulo Coelho For The Bali Times The measure of love I have always wanted to know if I was able to love like you do,” said the disciple of a Hindu master. “There is nothing beyond love,” answered the master. “It’s love that keeps the world going round and the stars hanging in the [...]

By Karen J. Greenberg In his first week in office, President Obama signed an executive order that would shut down the notorious US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year. But as the United States moves to end this shameful episode, it’s worth reflecting on the untold story of the very beginnings of [...]

Recent postings to stories on www.thebalitimes.com, and general comments about Bali: General From Very Concerned As a very frequent visitor to Bali, sadly to say, the rot is setting in. The uneducated masses that clog the waterways with plastic and all sorts of matter, uncollected rubbish from the streets, septic water from over flowing canals, [...]

JAKARTA ~ Two technicians were killed by spinning rotor blades when the helicopter they were servicing flipped onto its side at an air base, the Transport Ministry said on Thursday. The Eurocopter Super Puma belonging to Pelita Air tilted to the side killing the men at an airforce base near Jakarta shortly after the pilot [...]

BANDA ACEH ~ A spate of recent deadly animal attacks in Indonesia has thrown the spotlight on growing conflicts between humans and animals triggered by the rapid dwindling of the country’s forests. In the latest attack, two women were trampled to death by a pair of elephants in Aceh province on the northern tip of [...]

JAKARTA ~ A 21-year-old Indonesian woman has died of suspected bird flu, a doctor said on Wednesday. The woman died on Saturday in Doctor Soetomo Hospital in Surabaya, East Java, after showing bird flu symptoms, said Palilingan, a doctor in the hospital’s avian flu team. “She had breathing difficulties, high fever and lost consciousness,” Palilingan [...]

TIMIKA ~ Four people were injured when Indonesian police opened fire on hundreds of people in Papua province during a protest against alleged police violence. Officers began shooting when about 300 angry residents armed with homemade guns, machetes and wooden stakes tried on Tuesday to break into a police post in Timika, on the southern [...]

JAKARTA ~ Indonesia is prepared to try alleged Al-Qaeda bomb plotter Hambali if he is returned to his homeland after the planned closure of the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, police said. Hambali was arrested in Thailand in 2003 on suspicion of being one of Al-Qaeda’s senior operatives in Southeast Asia and a top [...]

JAKARTA ~ Muslims in Indonesia have been banned from doing yoga if they engage in Hindu religious rituals during the exercise, the chairman of the country’s top Islamic body said. About 700 clerics from the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) agreed on the action late Sunday at a national meeting in West Sumatra province, Ma’ruf [...]

KUPANG ~ Three men were killed and two injured in an agricultural land dispute in eastern Indonesia, police said. The clash occurred last Friday in Papang village in East Nusa Tenggara as two groups, totaling around two dozen people, fought over the right to use one hectare of land, the police said. “There are three [...]