DENPASAR The Denpasar District Court has sentenced a Japanese man to 18 years in prison after finding him guilty of smuggling 5.9 kilograms of hashish onto the island. Yuki Morita, 35, was found “legally and convincingly guilty” of the crime, the panel of judges ruled on Thursday. They added three years to the prosecutors’ sentencing [...]

DENPASAR An Australian man sentenced in January to seven years’ prison may be freed after a court cut his term to only one year. Angus McCaskill had appealed his sentence to the Bali High Court, which this week issued a verdict that slashed imprisonment to 12 months, The Bali Times has learned. The court based [...]

DENPASAR A journalist has criticised the Indonesian press for its imprecise use of language and for reporters’ tendency to editorialise in news stories during a student journalism training forum in Denpasar. Speaking at the Hindu Students Journalism Training gathering in the Bali capital, PK Yanes, the former chairman of the Bali branch of the Alliance [...]

DENPASAR Preparations will soon start for the ASEAN Summit, due to be held in Bali in November, Governor I Made Mangku Pastika has said. The meeting of leaders from all member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will run from November 17 to 19 and will be preceded by an ASEAN Fair. [...]

DENPASAR A Denpasar woman who was arrested after attempting to catch her husband with another woman is filing an official complaint against the police for her treatment. Kadek Murniasih is lodging the complaint with the Bali Police and the national human rights commission, she told reporters at a press conference with her lawyer, Ketut Alit [...]

SINGARAJA The parents and neighbours of a serial teenage thief from Tukad Sumaga in Buleleng handed him over to Gerokgak Police on Sunday, saying that they were unable to control him. The 16-year-old, identified by his initials, GA, was handed over to police for “guidance.” Gerokgak Police chief Komang Reka Adnyana said on Sunday that [...]

KUTA A pair of thieves were arrested by police in Kuta in the early hours of Saturday morning after mugging a British tourist. Doharman and Herry, both 26 years old and residents of Kuta, were detained by Kuta Police after a complaint from a British woman, Leana Clancy. Clancy was robbed outside her hotel, the [...]

Closed Down: The newly opened Best Western hotel in Kuta was forced to shut its doors on Thursday after it was found to be in violation of documentation permits. Photograph by Juliyusman Sine/The Bali Times

KLUNGKUNG Bumper rice harvests in Klungkung have led to a dramatic drop in price of the grain in local markets, with the asking rate falling below the government-sanctioned floor rate. Rice is currently fetching Rp2,600 (30 US cents) a kilogramme on the open market, despite the official minimum price per kilo being Rp2,800. The high [...]

BANGLI A purpose-built drug-rehabilitation centre will be built in Bali to treat addicts and offer an alternative to prison sentences for those convicted of drugs offences. The centre, to be built in Bangli, will be the second such facility in Indonesia. The decision by the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) to build the centre comes after [...]

BULELENG A 13-year-old girl from Gerokgak in Buleleng was allegedly raped by her stepfather two months ago, leaving her pregnant. The rape and pregnancy were discovered when the girl, identified only by her initials, EL, suffered a miscarriage on Sunday. She was taken to a doctor by her mother, suffering from abdominal pains, and miscarried [...]

BULELENG A day after disappearing while hunting birds in the mountainous jungle region of Buleleng, a 31-year-old man from Busungbiu was found dead at the bottom of a steep ravine. Nyoman Widana from Sepang village in Busungbiu, had gone into the jungle around Unggahan with five friends to hunt wild birds last Thursday. During the [...]