Pretty young women and older men of means – ‘sugar babies’ and ‘sugar daddies’ – are pairing up thanks to a US website that openly offers companionship for money, but balks at the word prostitution. SeekingArrangement.com (SA) – which bills itself as the “premier Sugar Daddy dating site” – does not beat around the bush. [...]

The Moon is 4.36 billion years old, up to 200 million years younger than thought, according to analysis of lunar rocks reported in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature. The estimate comes from a new dating of isotopes of lead and neodymium found in samples of ferroan anorthosite, a crustal rock that derives from magma. [...]

By Richard Boughton Here’s something we never get tired of hearing about: the weekly, twice weekly, or thrice weekly “cop stop.” We’ve all been there. We bules, I mean. The activity soon becomes so familiar that we begin to miss the experience if too much time passes between incidents. An essential ingredient seems missing from [...]

According to Buddhist teaching, there is a very close interdependence between the natural environment and the sentient beings living in it. Some of my friends have told me that basic human nature is somewhat violent, but I told them I disagree. If we examine different animals, for example those whose survival depends on taking others’ [...]

By Vyt Karazija If ever I needed any reminders that Bali is a quirky place, these last few days have served to disabuse me of any notion that people here are reading from any conventional script, except maybe one of high farce. Every single day on the island provides vignettes of absurdity, of course, but [...]

By Jonathan Cainer Mercury, this week comes to the end of its retrograde phase. Communication problems will improve. Transport difficulties will ease up. Financial concerns, at least on the global stock market, should lift and lighten. Soon after that, Jupiter starts moving apparently backwards. The consequences of this influence tend to be less obvious. People [...]

KEROBOKAN Australian drug-smuggler Schapelle Corby was among prisoners in Bali who received reductions on their jail terms to mark Independence Day on Wednesday, but her family expressed anger that she had received a shorter remit that heroin smuggler Renae Lawrence. Corby, 34, received a five-month remission on her sentence. She has received several similar cuts [...]

DENPASAR The vice chairman of the Legion of Veterans of the Republic of Indonesia used a speech on Independence Day to slam widespread corruption, saying corruptors hurt the feelings of those who had taken part in Indonesia’s struggle against Dutch colonialism. Ida Bagus Raca gave his speech during celebrations in Renon, Denpasar, on Wednesday. “We [...]

BANGLI Bangli Police are hunting members of a gang stole hire cars and sold them outside Bali. One man was arrested on Wednesday after complaints from rental companies, Bangli Police spokesman I Dewa Nyoman Rai said. The operation was launched after a complaint from Made Suasana from Bunutin in Bangli. He told officers that he [...]

DENPASAR Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika has welcomed the announcement that Bali is to become a pilot area for a nationwide tax audit by the State Audit Board (BPK). Pastika said that the audit would help Bali achieve financial accountability this year. “I am grateful that the BPK has come here, and has made [...]

Sovereign: Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika led ceremonies in Denpasar on Wednesday marking Independence Day. It was the 66th anniversary of Indonesia’s breaking free from Dutch colonial rule. Photograph by Juliyusman Sine/The Bali Times

JAKARTA/ISLAMABAD The Bali Times/AFP An alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings was extradited from Pakistan to Indonesia on Thursday, after his arrest in the town where Osama bin Laden was killed, a security official said. Indonesia’s counter-terrorism agency chief Ansyaad Mbai confirmed that Umar Patek had arrived under tight security after an overnight flight [...]