“I can pick the foreigners who live here,” said the visiting sister. “There’s a certain attitude to them.” She meant arrogance, impatience and disdain – characteristics that chip away at the rose-coloured glasses of new foreign residents and eat into their starry-eyed perceptions until another cynical expat is unearthed. True, it’s a daily challenge to [...]

By Dr Robert Goldman Longevity News and Review provides readers with the latest information in breakthroughs pertaining to the extension of the healthy human lifespan. These news summaries are compiled by the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M; www.worldhealth.net), a non-profit medical society composed of 24,000 physician and scientist members from 110 nations, united in [...]

The United States has announced that guidelines for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, have been updated for the first time in almost three decades. The new guidelines acknowledge that memory loss may not be the primary clue in the early stages of the disease, and include three phases for diagnosing the [...]

Last week’s suicide bombing in Java was monstrous not only in its nature but in where it was carried out: inside a place of worship, a mosque. It demonstrates once again that those who base their murderous acts on God’s will – assuming this is yet another instance of Islamist terrorism – are doing nothing [...]

As the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet prepares to retire from politics, The Bali Times is publishing a series of articles by His Holiness on his thoughts and teachings. This is the second in a two-part article. We must be clear about what we mean by compassion. Many forms of compassionate feeling are mixed with [...]

By Novar Caine In the United States a dwindling group of monks walked into an advertising agency and asked creative directors to get them new recruits. There are only 12 monks left at Porstmouth Abbey in Rhode Island; the youngest of the bunch is almost 50. The Benedictine friars’ numbers are half what they were [...]

By Jonathan Cainer Mercury changes direction now. It has been going backwards. Now it is moving forward once more. This may only be an optical illusion but it has great symbolic significance. Deals can be done. Arrangements, long held back, can fall into place. Where negotiations or plans have been stuck, they’re being freed off. [...]

By Vyt Karazija It’s the silly season in Bali again and the bogan hordes are here in force.  I’m not talking about those who are here to see and enjoy Bali in all its vibrancy – the culture, the markets, the people, the beaches and the sheer ambience of this chaotic and beautiful island. No, [...]

Great Race: Turtles being released into the ocean, at Kuta Beach on Thursday. The event was organised by Quiksilver Indonesia and Coca-Cola and held to mark Earth Day, on Friday; it included a clean-up of the famous Bali beach.

NEGARA Would-be civil servants in Jembrana who have passed stringent entry tests for government employment, and have completed online application forms, are still waiting to hear if the applications have been successful after more than four months, they claim. “In the past, when I Gede Winasa was Jembrana regent, once candidate civil servants had passed [...]

BADUNG After a recent spike of bird flu cases amongst poultry in Bali, and a single case of human infection, health officials have called for vigilance from local people. Last week a 45-year-old woman from Tabanan was hospitalised suffering from bird flu, while officials revealed that there had been 85 recorded cases of the diseases [...]

BULELENG/DENPASAR A 12-year-old boy from Buleleng died of rabies this week, after being bitten by a dog and failing to receive post-bite vaccination. He is the latest victim of Bali’s rabies crisis that broke out in southern areas in late 2008 and has killed around 130 people. The boy’s death came as news emerged that [...]