TAIPEI ~ Taiwanese scientists said this week they had developed an organic compound that could help control the global swine flu epidemic as the worldwide death toll from the disease passed 700. The compound, which the researchers call NTU-VirusBom, can destroy viruses such as A(H1N1) swine flu and avian influenza and stop the spread of [...]

A new solo photographic exhibition that juxtaposes cultural boundaries between Bali and Laos has opened in Bali. It showcases intimate moments in karmic communities where subjects in the photos continue their lives as if a photographer wasn’t there. A first-time exhibition by Bali-resident Italian photographer Luciana Ferrero that explores the spiritual juxtaposition of Bali and [...]

By Anand Krishna For The Bali Times There is a saying among the Sufi mystics: “In the olden days, ‘Sufi’ as a term did not exist, but people lived the Sufi message. Now, the term ‘Sufi’ exists – but no one lives the message.” Unfortunately, the same can be said about Tri Hita Karana – [...]

SINGARAJA ~ Buleleng Police believe they have broken up a large-scale turtle-smuggling operation that had been illegally collecting the protected animals in North Bali and taking them to Denpasar for sale. Two men have been arrested following discovery of a pick-up truck containing 42 protected green turtles, two of them dead. Local security men at [...]

JAKARTA ~ The suicide bombings that rocked the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta last Friday pose frightening questions for business leaders in the mainly Muslim country, analysts say. The attacks, especially the bombing at the Marriott, showed a higher level of sophistication than previous hits by Indonesian-based extremists and may have been carefully [...]

By Marcia Bartusiak Walk into an open field on a clear, moonless night. Overhead, sparkling stars sprinkle the sky. All of them seem equidistant from you – and no one else – and you are lulled into imagining yourself at the centre of the universe. For nearly 500 years, astronomers have struggled to break that [...]

By Buzz Aldrin On the spring morning in 1927 when Charles Lindbergh set off alone across the Atlantic Ocean, only a handful of explorer-adventurers were capable of even attempting the feat. Many had tried before Lindbergh’s successful flight, but all had failed and many lost their lives in the process. Most people then thought transatlantic [...]

By Hannah Black For The Bali Times SILAKARANG ~ I recently went on a visa trip to Singapore, which I don’t usually look forward to but was pleasantly surprised to enjoy. It was my first night away from my 17-month-old daughter Lola and although I wasn’t nervous about it, it just felt different. One of [...]

By Chris Erskine Los Angeles Times If you don’t like Orange County, you don’t like America. They are happy here, “Hi-how-are-ya” happy. I wasn’t welcomed with such passion at my own wedding, by my own bride (It was an arranged marriage. She arranged it; I pretty much just showed up). Yes, it’s good to be [...]

By Elizabeth Henzell For The Bali Times UBUD ~ Gotong Royong: These words have, in the past, reminded me of a hip-swivelling dance, but nothing could be further from the truth. Gotong Royong is all about helping in the community; “mutual cooperation” is the Echols and Shadily Indonesian dictionary explanation. So if you find yourself [...]

We speak of evil in our society, of incarnations of the Devil, the anti-God, and nowhere is there such a manifestation of anti-humanity than in the people who carried out the suicide bombings at two hotels in Jakarta last Friday morning, taking seven innocent lives with them. These bombers represent all that is against the [...]

By William J. Furney The Bali Times We were driving up to Puncak, the chilly hill town outside Jakarta, last weekend and as we snaked up slowly amid a seven-hour tailback, I looked up at the misty sky full of resonance and envisioned a door to another place of continued conscious existence. I had the [...]