Jakarta  - Indonesia's defence minister accused Singapore of obstructing an extradition treaty because it fears it would have to hand over businessmen who sought refuge in the city-state with huge amounts of illegally gotten money, a news report said Friday.

Juwono Sudarsono also said a defence cooperation agreement with Singapore, negotiated simultaneously with the extradition pact, appeared to have collapsed as well, according to The Jakarta Post.

"They [the agreements] are frozen," Juwono told the Post.

Jakarta  - Activists of the environmental pressure group Greenpeace were beaten by security guards while protesting against environmental destruction outside the headquarters of one of Indonesia's largest palm oil companies Thursday, the group said.

Greenpeace accused the Sinar Mas Group, whose businesses include pulp, paper and palm oil, of destroying Indonesia's forests with impunity through its operations on Sumatra Island, the Indonesian part of Borneo and Papua.

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.

Jakarta  - Police arrested a Muslim cleric in Indonesia's Central Java province for marrying a 12-year-old girl in violation of the country's child-protection law, an officer said Wednesday.

Pujiono Cahyo Widianto, 43, revealed in August that he had taken a 12-year-old girl as a second wife in a traditional Islamic wedding ceremony, sparking criticism from child-protection groups.

Police in Semarang, the capital of Central Java, said they had charged Pujiono with sexual exploitation of a child.

Jakarta - An earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale struck Monday evening off the northern tip of Indonesia's Sulawesi island, but there were no immediate reports of injury and damage, officials said.

The quake at a depth of 35 kilometres near the Talaud islands between Sulawesi and the southern Philippines occurred at 9:16 pm (1416 GMT), the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

Jakarta - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday met Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein for talks on various issues, including the issue of the so-called Rohingya boat people, officials said.

Thein Sein was quoted as saying that his country had prepared to receive the Rohingya boat people on condition that they can prove they were Myanmarese, because some of them came from Bangladesh.