War Games: A Thai frigate, the HTMS Naresuan, arrived at Benoa Port on Monday. Thailand is taking part in three days of military exercises with the Indonesian Navy this week. Photograph: Juliyusman Sine/The Bali Times

JAKARTA National carrier Garuda Indonesia was forced to issue a public apology on Tuesday for three days of flight chaos caused by the loss of crew rotation data during a switch to a new operating system. More than 700 passengers have been affected by flight delays and cancellations which started Sunday and were continuing on [...]

JAKARTA State-owned national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia cancelled four flights on Monday in ongoing disruptions apparently caused by a computer system error. The Monday cancellations followed problems over the weekend where Garuda passengers were left in the dark over their flights. There were angry scenes at Jakarta airport when stranded passengers tried unsuccessfully to find [...]

BANDUNG Rock star Nazril Ariel went on trial on Monday charged with distributing two homemade sex videos on the internet, in a case that has shocked and fascinated the country. Ariel, 29, appeared at a closed-door trial at the Bandung District Court, West Java province, facing criminal charges including under a 2008 anti-pornography law, prosecutor [...]

SYDNEY A flight from Bali to Melbourne was diverted after a mid-air incident in which a passenger became unruly. The Pacific Blue flight on Sunday diverted to Broome in Western Australia. The man was taken to hospital.

DENPASAR Police have arrested dozens of prostitutes, four of them underage, in raids in Sanur and in South Kuta conducted last weekend as part of Operation Supreme Concentration. They also arrested a new brothel-keeper, named by police as Wayan Widana, 48, of Klungkung, who they said told them he had only just opened for business. [...]

BEDUGUL If you’ve ever wondered why Bedugul’s famous strawberries taste so good, you can thank rabbits. Growers at Candi Kuning, near Bedugul, have turned to rabbit urine to fertilise their strawberry plants and vegetable crops. One of the growers, Nyoman Suta, has been using rabbit urine as liquid fertiliser on his 2,000-square-metre (20-are) strawberry field [...]

Champs: Bali boys Putra Hermawan, left, and Marlon Gerber, winners of the Rip Curl Surf and Music Festival contest. The event was held at Kuta Beach.

NUSA PENIDA The central government has declared the coral-rich waters around Bali — a popular scuba diving spot which is home to the giant Mola-Mola ocean sunfish — a protected zone. The 20,000-hectare area around Nusa Penida, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Lembongan islands will be protected from destructive fishing, waste dumping and coral mining, project [...]

By Novar Caine It would be a chore to watch Julia Roberts’ latest movie, which was part-shot in Bali. Certainly not because of the pretty woman but due to the reams of scathing press that has been heaped on Eat Pray Love. The viewing promised to be a gluttonous ordeal of profligacy portrayed by the [...]

It’s an extremely uncomfortable sensation to be in an ethnic minority in a community that harbours a historical grudge against your nation, race or colour. The Playmate and I lived for a few years in such an environment, in the early 80s in newly independent Papua New Guinea, where resentment against the nation’s former Australian [...]

By Jonathan Cainer Here we are, at last, in the week when Jupiter and Venus change direction under a powerful Full Moon. If something in your world has been stuck for too long, prepare to see it shift. If someone has been holding back, expect to witness them letting go. If there has been a [...]