Indonesia puts moratorium on new Bali hotels amid overtourism fears

Concern has been growing in the popular tourist destination about the strain that visitors place on the local infrastructure, environment and culture

Indonesia will suspend the construction of new hotels in some areas of Bali, amid fears about overdevelopment of one of its most famous tourist destinations.

Tourism has rebounded in Bali after the Covid pandemic, but there is growing concern about the strain visitors are placing on local infrastructure, the environment, and culture.

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Two Australians and three Indonesians survive helicopter crash in Bali, officials say

Bell 505 Jet Ranger X helicopter came down in Pecatu village on the southern side of Bali after it was entangled in a kite string

Two Australians and three Indonesians have survived a tourist helicopter crash in Bali after it became entangled in a kite string, officials say.

The Bell 505 Jet Ranger X helicopter, owned by PT Whitesky Aviation, came down in Pecatu village in the coastal area on the southern side of Bali, a statement from Indonesia’s transportation ministry said.

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Five killed as elevator at Bali resort plunges down ravine

Accident at Ubud’s Ayuterra Resort believed to have occurred when cable in inclined lift carrying hotel staff snapped

Balinese police are investigating the catastrophic failure of a lift that left five hotel workers dead at a resort on Friday.

The accident took place at Ubud’s Ayuterra Resort about 1pm and is believed to have occurred when a cable in the inclined lift carrying the three women and two men snapped, plunging them 100 metres down a steep ravine at the hillside resort.

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Indonesia considers tourist tax to curb bad behaviour in Bali

Business groups fear cost could damage tourism sector still recovering from effects of pandemic

Indonesia is considering imposing a tax for tourists after a series of incidents in which badly behaved foreigners have violated laws or customs, according to local media.

The tourism and creative economy minister, Sandiaga Uno, told reporters this week that the possibility of a tourism tax was “currently being studied”.

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Bali to ban tourists from renting motorbikes

Governor says foreigners will only be allowed to rent cars, after series of road traffic offences

The Indonesian island of Bali plans to ban tourists from renting motorbikes after a series of incidents in which foreigners have violated traffic rules.

Bali’s governor, Wayan Koster, said that underchanges to be imposed this year, foreigners would only be allowed to drive cars rented from travel agents.

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Troy Johnston death: Indonesian man arrested after Australian Rio Tinto worker dies in Bali bar

Perth man dead after altercation in South Kuta bar

An Indonesian man has been arrested and police say will be charged with murder after the death of an Australian man in a Bali bar.

Local media reported that on Wednesday night Perth man Troy Johnston, 40, was drinking at Uncle Benz cafe in South Kuta.

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Australian student, 25, dies suddenly in Bali after flying in for dental treatment

Indonesian authorities investigating death of West Australian university student Niamh Finneran Loader ‘following medical procedure’

An accomplished West Australian university student has died suddenly in Bali, where she had travelled to receive dental treatment.

Niamh Finneran Loader, 25, died on 2 December. Indonesian authorities are investigating the circumstances of her death.

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‘China can play mediating role’: Macron to visit Xi Jinping over war in Ukraine

French president believes China can help push Russia to de-escalate Ukraine war

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said he intends to visit Beijing in the new year and believes his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, can play a mediating role that prevents a resumption of large-scale land fighting in Ukraine in February.

Speaking at the close of the G20 in Bali, a summit dominated by the Russian attack on Ukraine and its implications for the world economy, he said he believed China could take a mediating role in the conflict.

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PM’s meeting with Chinese president confirmed – as it happened

This blog is now closed

Andrews rules out deal with the Greens and independents in event of minority government

Dan Andrews was also asked what would happen if Labor finds itself in a minority government situation – will it do a deal with the Greens?

No deal will be offered and no deal will be done.

And independents – no deals with independents?

No deal will be offered and no deal will be done.

So if you’re in a minority situation and you hold more seats than the Liberal party, what happens? You go back to another election?

Well, I think what the best thing to do, and what happens, Michael, is we work hard for the next 13 days, we work hard to put a positive and optimistic plan out there, and we’ll see what the verdict of Victorian voters is. I’m arguing, I’m urging people to vote for a strong, stable majority Labor government, to vote for your local Labor candidate.

The new SEC – government-owned, not private for-profit, but government-owned electricity, so owned by every single Victorian – creates nearly 60,000 jobs – 6,000 of those will be apprentices. It will be 100% renewable electricity. These companies can’t be relied upon to replace themselves. They’ll just put another profit machine in place. We need to make sure that we’re looking after pensioners, we’re looking after families and, indeed, businesses. And without electricity, there is no economy, so we have to replace them. And we choose to replace them with a public option – a government-owned option. An option that’s owned by every single Victorian.

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Australia news live: Victoria and Tasmania hit by flooding; NT triple murderer sentenced to life in jail

Seventy flood warnings in place across Victoria, with 10,000 people without power and 40 schools and childcare centres shut. Follow the day’s news live

‘Walk the talk Labor’: Spender urges government to help households decarbonise

Independent MP Allegra Spender has taken to social media to urge the Albanese government to take action supporting Australian households as they decarbonise:

Our families and businesses are hurting. Sovereign risk is not a defence when the super profits are being made because of a war.

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Graphic film of Bali bombings at Kuta memorial ‘ripped our hearts apart’, son of terror victim says

Australian government says it will formally register concern over gruesome film shown to hundreds at ceremony in Indonesia

A graphic, gruesome film screened at Kuta’s ground zero monument marking the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings has upset and angered some friends and relatives of the dead.

The Australian government said on Thursday it would formally register its concerns with Indonesian authorities over the event.

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Lidia Thorpe to lodge press council complaint over voice report; attorney general says pursuit of Assange has ‘gone on long enough’ – as it happened

Mark Dreyfus says most anti-corruption hearings will be private and only public in exceptional circumstances. This blog is now closed

US security expert says chances of Putin using nuclear weapon are “small”

During his visit to Canberra, the chief executive of the Washington-based thinktank the Center for a New American Security, Richard Fontaine, weighed in on the US president, Joe Biden’s recent comments that the world could face “Armageddon” if Russia’s Vladimir Putin uses a tactical nuclear weapon to try to win the war in Ukraine.

I seriously doubt that anybody handed the president a set of written talking points that had the word Armageddon on it. On the other hand, there is very grave concern about the rattling of the nuclear sabre, because the chances, I think, of Russia using even a tactical nuclear weapon are small, but they’re higher than they were. And they’re probably higher than any time since 1962 with the [Cuban] missile crisis.

The use of nuclear weapons is one of these low probability, extremely high consequence events. So even if the probability is relatively small, the consequences would be so grave. If they were to do this, we would wake up in a different world the next day.

Yes, absolutely. Every country really has a dog in this fight, because what we’re talking about here is a violation of the fundamental rules of international order, the cardinal element of which is the prohibition against territorial conquest by force. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing here.

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Jetstar flights cancelled, leaving 4,000 passengers stranded overseas for up to a week

Travellers in Bali have run out of medication and been offered tortuous routes home

Mass flight cancellations have left 4,000 Jetstar passengers stranded or forced to cancel trips, with the carrier only able to offer flights a week later in many cases.

Many have reported being left in Bali well beyond their planned return date without access to medication, or being forced to lose wages because they could not return home in time to work.

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Bali bomb maker Umar Patek could be released early from Indonesian jail

Early release of ex-member of terror group linked to al-Qaida will cause distress for bereaved, says Australian PM

Umar Patek, the bomb maker who helped assemble the devices used in the 2002 bombing in Bali, could walk free early from prison this year.

The Indonesian ministry of law and human rights regional office in East Java has proposed the early release after the ex-member of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesian terror group linked to al-Qaida, completed two-thirds of his sentence, plus remissions.

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Covid news live: US set to open land borders, Bali prepares to welcome back tourists

The US will lift restrictions at its land borders with Canada and Mexico next month; holiday hot-spot Bali will reopen for vaccinated travellers from Thursday

There is a little bit of news on the Reuters wire which is coming out of Russia’s Interfax news agency. They are reporting that the Russian health ministry has said it will be having talks with the EU to discuss terms for the mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccine certificates for their respective shots.

The European Medicines Agency is yet to approve Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for use, which is the source of some friction between the two parties. Russia has accused the EU of doing so for political reasons, while the EU has in turn suggested that the vaccine’s manufacturer has not been forthcoming with the required data for approval.

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Bali is reopening to tourists, but nervous locals wonder what the future will bring

The pandemic has prompted a rethink of tourism’s role on the island as some call for only ‘quality’ visitors

After being shuttered for 17 months, the upmarket Hujan Locale restaurant in the Balinese town of Ubud is slowly coming back to life.

Outside, staff greet a box truck driver who delivers fresh vegetables and stacks of lemongrass, ginger flowers and kaffir lime leaves. Kitchen workers are busy preparing for the day ahead. A chandelier above a stairway is once again casting a warm yellow shimmer across the walls.

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‘Have a little empathy’: Bali tires of badly behaved foreign influencers

Tourists threaten the island’s economic recovery by ignoring Covid protocols, including refusing to wear masks and even making a porn film

A Russian Instagrammer who launched his motorbike off a dock, crashing into the sea. Two YouTube pranksters who fooled a supermarket guard with drawn-on face masks, violating the island’s health rules. A couple allegedly filming porn on a sacred mountain.

Bali has hosted a range of badly behaved influencers during the pandemic. And now it’s had enough.

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Photos show missing Indonesian navy submarine found broken up on seabed

Parts of KRI Nanggala including its rudder, anchors and outer body found scattered at bottom of sea

A missing Indonesian submarine has been found, broken into at least three parts, deep in the Bali Sea, army and navy officials have said, as the president sent condolences to relatives of the 53 crew.

On Sunday, the Indonesian military head, Hadi Tjahjanto, said there was no chance of finding any of the crew alive.

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Nice phone: Bali’s thieving monkeys can spot high-value items to ransom

Study finds macaques go for tourists’ electronics and wallets over empty bags and then maximise their profit

At the Uluwatu temple in Bali, monkeys mean business. The long-tailed macaques who roam the ancient site are infamous for brazenly robbing unsuspecting tourists and clinging on to their possessions until food is offered as ransom payment.

Researchers have found they are also skilled at judging which items their victims value the most and using this information to maximise their profit.

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Bali’s beaches buried in tide of plastic rubbish during monsoon season

Tourist drawcards Kuta and Legian beaches are being overwhelmed by up to 60 tonnes of plastic rubbish every day

Bali’s beaches have been covered in tonnes of ugly rubbish as a result of the monsoon and chronic failings in Indonesia’s waste management system.

Authorities say that between 30 and 60 tonnes of trash is being collected from the island’s most famous beaches each day.

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