Bali Island, Indonesia - Ministers and officials from 40 countries began a two-day meeting on the Indonesian resort island of Bali Tuesday to discuss people smuggling and the fate of migrants from Myanmar's Rohingya ethnic group. The meeting, co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia, will discuss Asia-Pacific solutions to people smuggling and trafficking and ways to improve border security.

Bali Island, Indonesia - South-East Asian nations must take stronger measures to curb sexual exploitation of children in the tourism industry, delegates at an international conference on child sex tourism said Friday.

A statement issued at the end of the conference on Indonesia's resort island of Bali warned that the current global financial crisis would increase children's vulnerability to child sex tourism.

Bali, Indonesia - Sexual exploitation of children in the tourism industry is rampant in Southeast Asia despite efforts to curb the crime, child-protection groups said on Wednesday.

In Indonesia, child sex tourism is a major problem on the resort islands of Bali and Batam, said Irwanto, chairman of the National Coalition against Sexual Exploitation of Children.

Bali, Indonesia - A court in Indonesia's resort island of Bali on Thursday sentenced an Australian man to eight years in prison for having sex with boys.

The court in Buleleng district found Philip Robert Grandfield, 62, guilty of having sexual contact with five boys aged between 15 and 17 last year.

Grandfield said he was relieved by the verdict but nevertheless would appeal.

"I thought I might be sentenced to death," he said.

Bali Island, Indonesia - Authorities on Indonesia's resort isl

Bali, Indonesia - Indonesia and Australia pledged Wednesday to intensify efforts to fight against human trafficking, and Jakarta will soon to extradite an Iranian national to face such charges in Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed that "we would further deepen our cooperation at the operational field level in dealing with the challenges of people smuggling."

Rudd, who was on the Indonesian resort island of Bali to attend a regional forum to promote democracy, said an Iranian national suspected of smuggling people to Australia will soon be extradited from Indonesia.