Preparations: A worker in Denpasar puts the finishing touches to outlandish masks to be used in Nyepi celebrations. The annual Hindu Day of Silence is on March 23. Photo: Juliyusman Sine/The Bali Times

GILIMANUK Bali’s main ports are to get high-tech security gates, aimed at improving safety and control of passengers entering the island by sea. The provincial authorities have allocated Rp60 billion for the project, which will see the gates installed at Padangbai and Gilimanuk, according to Governor I Made Mangku Pastika. “We have commenced procurement of [...]

KEROBOKAN Last week’s rioting at Kerobokan Prison led to at least Rp5 billion in damage, according to officials. Two senior prison staff were removed from their posts as a consequence of the episode in which the authorities lost control of the facility while inmates ran amok, but officials have denied that the removal of Bali [...]

GILIMANUK Electricity providers are to lay two new cables between Bali and Java in an attempt to improve the island’s power supply. State-owned power company PLN announced last week that the new cables, expected to begin operation in July at a cost of Rp450 billion, will deliver an extra 200 megawatts of power to Bali. [...]

Palm trees, lawns, a tennis court and room service: What at first glance looks like a cheap resort in Bali is in fact a notorious jail. Kerobokan Prison – where sex and drugs are reportedly rampant among the 1,015 inmates who include 60 foreigners – was taken over last week by rioting prisoners after a [...]

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 [...]

Bali’s first bird flu death of 2012 is suspected by officials after a child from Badung died of flu-like symptoms last week. According to officials a 12-year-old boy was hospitalised on February 16, five days after developing a fever. “He suffered shortness of breath and eventually died on February 21. Laboratory tests confirmed he died [...]

Sleeping pills are linked to a more-than fourfold risk of premature death, according to an American study published in the journal BMJ Open this week. These medications were also associated at higher doses with a 35-percent increased risk of cancer as compared with non-users, but the reason for this is unclear. Doctors led by Daniel [...]