The regent of Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) is requiring civil servants to wear the niqab (face veil adorned by many Muslim women) because they have not been wearing masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an approach he said has nothing to do with radicalism and is more of a “fashionable” choice.

A 25-year-old man has been arrested in Denpasar for alleged arson, with authorities citing him being recently laid off and unable to find a job amid the pandemic as a motive for his crime.

The Denpasar Police have arrested a 54-year-old man for the alleged rape of a teenage girl, who was previously identified as a rape victim at the hands of her cousin and uncle.

Police in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) are investigating a kidnapping case in Central Sumba regency that was widely reported as part of an alleged marriage by abduction, along with increasing calls for a regional regulation to put an end to the horrific practice.

Bali officials are planning to launch a dedicated task force for traditional markets across the province, following spikes in local transmissions being traced back to dozens of market vendors in recent weeks.