Indonesia is promoting the annual Bali Arts Festival (PKB) by digitalizing its month-long activities and broadcasting live on particular website as well as in various social media channels. The breakthrough move came at the request of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who wanted to make people across the world know more about the festival, a senior official overseeing the Bali provincial tourism said.

Balinese society is strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese, and Hindu cultures. This spiritual combination can be seen in the photo compilation below as a snapshot of the cultural society, with each entity incorporating a religious background. Here are a few UNESCO cultural heritage sites, both tangible and intangible. 

Overseas aid was cut from $5.03 billion in 2014-15, to $4.05 billion in 2015-16, a reduction of around 20 per cent. Further cuts are scheduled to follow until 2017-18, by which time Australia's aid budget relative to gross national income will have sunk to 0.21 percent, its lowest level since overseas assistance was formalised in the post-war period. It will also be substantially below what Australia's more prosperous OECD partners allocate.

Indonesia announced last week that it will scrap visa on arrival fees for Australians in an attempt to boost the number of visitors to the country. While this may lead to a small increase in Australian tourists visiting Bali, what the government really needs to do to increase people-to-people exchange to make it easier for young people to work and study in Indonesia ultimately facilitating deeper economic, political and cultural relations.

Three West Papuans who entered the Australian consulate in Bali overnight have left the compound after being warned by the consul-general that the Indonesian army would be called, the group says. Markus Jerewon, 29, Yuvensius Goo, 22 and Rofinus Yanggam, 30, scaled the two-metre high fence of the Australian compound in Bali’s Renon district at 3.20am local time (6.20am AEST) on Sunday morning.