By I Gusti Made Putra The Bali Times DALUNG ~ A leading Hindu high priest has warned that plans by a Balinese businessman to build a restaurant on the site of the terrorist-bombed Sari Club where 202 people were slaughtered will lead to disaster for the entrepreneur and urged that a planned peace park be [...]

….because of its wonderful people and pleasant atmosphere. Juan Mariatti, 28, Montevideo, Uruguay BT/PCAR

NAME: Rosmara Dewi AGE: 35 OCCUPATION: Education team leader and organic-farming supervisor LOCATION:  Gianyar How do you think the country is doing now? The government has a good plan but it needs to put it into action. Is the central government in Jakarta doing enough for the regions? Mostly yes, but it should invest more [...]

Hardi, 31, is a personal trainer from central Java who moved to Bali 11 years ago. He’s now working at Hammerhead gym, supporting people not only physically but psychologically so that they can have a healthier lifestyle. He shared his day with Carla Alberti de la Rosa. The first thought that crosses my mind when [...]

Wayan Mentek, 75, runs a foodstall in her native Pesinggahan in Klungkung – home to the famous Goa Lawah bat temple. She has two children and two grandchildren. What’s the greatest lesson life has taught you? To be safe and look after yourself. What’s most important? Religion. What advice would you give the younger generations? [...]

By Vyt Karazija I’m officially classified as deaf. Well, in one ear anyway, which is about 90dB down from normal. That’s a lot. All I “hear” from my left side is a high-pitched hissing shriek that I have learned to ignore. Well, most of the time anyway. Two functioning ears are good, because they allow one to [...]

BEIJING ~ The iconic “Tank Man” photo taken during the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown and banned in China was available on Google.cn on Wednesday, hours after the online giant vowed to defy Chinese internet censors. The image was available despite word from Google that, as of late Wednesday, no changes had been made to the California [...]

BAGHDAD ~ An Iraqi court sentenced 11 men to death, including Al-Qaeda militants, on Thursday over devastating truck bombs in Baghdad that killed more than 100 people in August and dealt a harsh blow to the government. The trial was the first to convict suspects arrested in the wake of three major attacks in the [...]

By Sam Daley-Harris As we set out in the new year, many of us search for ways to bring deeper meaning to our lives. Sometimes that meaning can be found in the most unlikely places, places like the slums of Nairobi, Kenya where Jamii Bora, a microfinance programme, offers savings and loans to people who [...]

By Stephen Starr Atop a mountain in the Syrian heartland lies a monastery where the message of Christian-Muslim unity is alive and well. Cooled by eastern-blowing winds from the mountains dividing Lebanon and Syria, Deir Mar Musa is perhaps an unlikely place to find the seed of intercultural and inter-religious understanding. Yet the monastery has [...]

JAKARTA ~ The government has asked to re-write a new regional trade pact with China, citing fears of job losses due to a flood of cheap Chinese imports across various sectors. The government has sought to maintain 228 tariff lines for another two years rather than cut them as required under the ASEAN-China Free Trade [...]

DANANG ~ A new regional trade pact with China is on track despite reservations from countries such as Indonesia, the ASEAN secretary general said on Thursday. The agreement between China and Southeast Asia took full effect on January 1, liberalising billions of dollars in trade and investments in a market of 1.7 billion consumers. Association [...]