DENPASAR Eight people are now dead and five are in hospital after drinking home-brewed arak believed to have been laced with methanol, Sanglah General Hospital spokesman Putra Wibawa said on Wednesday. He said the first victim, who had been drinking arak in Kuta, died on May 16. “Eight have died and five are still under [...]

YALA Two bomb attacks in Thailand’s insurgency-plagued south on Wednesday killed two people and wounded another 27, police said. The first blast went off in Yala, the main town in the province of the same name, at 10:15am in front of a car showroom, wounding eight people. The second exploded nearby around ten minutes later, [...]

Our island is one of translucent contrasts: opulent residences line the streets and outside middle-aged women and young children and infants beg for cash. Travellers from around the world come here to experience untainted natural beauty yet spend much of their time sitting in dense traffic that casts a distorting pall over pollutant-clogged environments that [...]

SINGARAJA Four Buleleng people have died of rabies in recent days, the latest a toddler aged four, sparking fears that the regency may be the new focus of Bali’s uncontrolled rabies outbreak. The toddler, from Alasangker, died in Buleleng General Hospital on Tuesday. The child, whose father is a health department driver, had been bitten [...]

DENPASAR Governor I Made Mangku Pastika wants unregistered Ferrari sports cars and illegal big motorbikes evicted from Bali — along with their owners if they won’t pay tax like everyone else. “The owners are clearly not responsible people, because they do not pay taxes. They are bold enough to buy expensive cars but not to [...]

Devotion Blessings: The Hindu faithful marked Kuningan, the end of the 10-day festival that begins with Galungan, at Tanah Lot on Saturday, when thousands streamed into the holy site. After the ceremony, they took in the sights of one of Bali’s top tourist attractions.  (Photo: The Bali Times)

By Hector WHAT a delightful story we reported on our website during the week (it’s in this week’s print edition too) about the Ngurah Rai International Airport VIP scheme having been suspended but one of the operators of same saying yes, it had been suspended, but they could still offer the service and indeed were [...]

Evelyn Rieu Beldame, 62, is a French chef who owns Pignou di Penyu restaurant in Ubud. She has three children. What’s the greatest lesson life has taught you? After my husband passed away, it was difficult but I remember the good times I had with him. From that I’ve learned that I’m lucky because I’ve [...]

NAME: Daniel Wijaya AGE: 39 OCCUPATION: Home decorator LOCATION:  Ubud How do you think the country is doing now? I don’t feel the government’s impact on the nation. Everything is just the same. The government is too passive and doesn’t have any vision for the future. The country survives because of the citizens, not because [...]

…because of the weather, the waves and the tolerant, relaxed nature of its people. Nick Torpey, 35, Sydney BT/PCAR

From the perspective of Vladimir Karpov, 25, a creative consultant from Russia. What are we here for? To study and to examine our souls. Do you believe in the Big Bang theory that the circa-13.7-billion-year-old universe and all that’s in it was created by a massive explosion of enormously dense matter at what may have [...]

I Gede Sanat Kumara, 48, from Gianyar, is the founder of baliwww.com, a web-based travel agency that began life in 1997. A father of two, he’s also involved in northbali.org, which works to preserve the culture unique to northern parts of the island. He shared his day with Carla Albertí de la Rosa. I wake [...]