Bali's

Bali boy charged with offences that carry jail term A NSW boy arrested in Bali for drug possession faces a term in Bali's notorious Kerobokan jail after being charged by Indonesian prosecutors.

NEWS.com.au | Top Stories 2011

Charlie Cole for The Wall Street Journal Bali's northeast is a contrast to the sometimes traffic-choked south.

Bali's Tourist Challenge 2011

A record 2.3 million foreigners visited Bali in 2010, nearly double the number in 2002, a painful year in Bali's psyche: Two bombs set off by Muslim extremists at a bar and nightclub in Kuta one October Saturday night killed 202 people.

Trouble in Paradise Joe Cochrane 2011

Tensions are also growing about the presence of some 300,000 Indonesian migrant laborers, vendors and sex workers from poorer regions trying to cash in on Bali's booming economy.

Trouble in Paradise Joe Cochrane 2011

Meanwhile, some locals say the rapid, and lopsided, development of the island is not just inconvenient—it also threatens Bali's culture.

Trouble in Paradise Joe Cochrane 2011

The journey by taxi from Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport to the popular tourist areas of Kuta Beach and Seminyak is less than four kilometers, but can take up to a frustrating hour if visitors arrive at the wrong time of day.

Trouble in Paradise Joe Cochrane 2011

Projects planned for the six growth centers, meanwhile, include a new toll road to the country's busiest seaport in Jakarta, a $220 million expansion of the Bali's international airport, a palm-oil industrial center in northern Sumatra, and up to $6 billion in spending to build a steel plant in Banten with the aid of South Korean steel maker Posco.

Indonesia President Sets Plan to Lift Growth Eric Bellman 2011

Charlie Cole for The Wall Street Journal Bali's highest point, Mount Agung, as seen from the island's less-developed northeastern shore

Bali's Tourist Challenge 2011

But it has also created a completely new set of problems for Bali's four million inhabitants: The island is now home to horrendous traffic jams, a seemingly endless succession of new resort projects, illegally built foreign-owned villas, tourist-related crime and rising demand for power and water that threatens to outstrip the capacity of local utility companies.

Trouble in Paradise Joe Cochrane 2011

In 2009, Bali Governor I Made Pastika warned the island's council that 260 of Bali's 400 rivers and waterways weren't functioning properly due to unchecked development, deforestation and excessive pumping of groundwater for businesses.

Trouble in Paradise Joe Cochrane 2011