Jakarta  - At least 58 people were killed and up to 72 were missing Friday after a dam burst, sending a wall of water crashing into the residential area near the Indonesian capital, officials said.

The Situ Gintung dam in the Tangerang district, 50 kilometres south of Jakarta, collapsed about 2 am (1900 GMT Thursday), sending water crashing into a crowded residential area, officials said.

Hundreds of homes were submerged and many swept away while trees were uprooted.

Singapore - A Malaysian mother and daughter pleaded guilty Friday to maid abuse in Singapore as their trial was under way, a newspaper reported.

Housewife Loke Phooi Ling, 38, was charged with 32 counts and Teng Chen Lian, 67, with six counts of abusing their 23-year-old Indonesian maid from March to July 2007. They pleaded guilty after nine days of testimony in their trial in Singapore District Court, the Straits Times said.

Jakarta - At least 20 people were killed and many more injured after a dam broke near the Indonesian capital Jakarta Friday, officials said.

The Situ Gintung dam in Tangerang district, just outside the capital Jakarta, collapsed at about 2 am (1900 GMT Thursday), sending water crashing into a crowded residential area, said Rustam Pakaya, the head of the Health Ministry's crisis centre.

Hundreds of homes were submerged and many swept away, he said. "It was like a tsunami," Pakaya said.

Bali Island, Indonesia  - Residents and tourists on the popular Indonesian resort island of Bali on Thursday celebrated the annual Day of Silence, a Hindu New Year observance during which the island shuts down and people are banned from the streets.

The New Year, called Nyepi, is one of the most important religious events for Balinese Hindus, and this year, they welcomed the Saka New Year of 1931.

Jakarta - Indonesian authorities in Papua province released one of four Dutch journalists detained for allegedly violating immigration laws, an immigration official said Wednesday.

Elske Schouten, the NRC Handelsblad newspaper's Jakarta correspondent, was released overnight but the three others were still not allowed to leave the province, said Raden Hendiartono, the head of the Jayapura immigration office.

Jakarta - Government prosecutors on Tuesday demanded prison term ranging from seven years to 15 years for five suspected Islamic militants on trial for allegedly plotting to bomb a cafe and kill a Christian priest.

Prosecutors told the South Jakarta court that the defendants were guilty of violating the country's tough anti-terrorism laws, enacted just weeks after the October 2002 bombings of two nightspots on the resort island of Bali that killed at least 202 people.