Jakarta - Indonesia and the Netherlands on Wednesday called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, where an Israeli military offensive has killed more than 900 Palestinians.

Visiting Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said after meeting his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda that Indonesia and the Netherlands had a common interest in an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

"We also shared ideas on how to realize a ceasefire in Gaza," he told a news conference.

Retno Marsudi, the foreign ministry's director general for the Americas and Europe, said each country should play a role in pushing for a Gaza ceasefire.

Jakarta - Rescue workers made no progress in their search for more than 230 missing people three days after a passenger ferry capsized in rough seas off the Indonesian province of West Sulawesi, officials said Wednesday.

"We received no report on more survivors or bodies found from the field until mid-day Wednesday," said Junaedi, an official at western Sulawesi port town of Majene, the closest to the ferry's location when it sank.

He said only 35 survivors and two bodies had been found since the ferry sank early Sunday, leaving at least 230 others missing and feared dead.

Hong Kong  - A Hong Kong woman who slapped her Indonesian maid across the face for getting up five minutes late has been fined 2,000 Hong Kong dollars (256 US dollars), a court report said Wednesday.

Housewife Lok Hung-tan, 29, claimed she was depressed and sick with a kidney disease when she accused her 25-year-old employee called Yanti of being late last December.

She fined her 12 US dollars and when the maid objected slapped her face, causing abrasions to her lip, said the report in the South China Morning Post.

Jakarta - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has launched
a third pop album comprising instrumental versions of his 10 previously
recorded songs.

The album, dubbed Evolution and launched on Sunday in a lavish concert
attended by cabinet ministers, features some of the country's veteran
rock, jazz and classic musicians.

"These works express my feelings and thoughts as president and an
ordinary human being," Yudhoyono was quoted as saying in his Web site,
www. presidensby. info.

Jakarta - One body and a total of 33 survivors were rescued two days after a passenger ferry capsized off the Indonesian province of West Sulawesi, leaving an estimated 230 others missing and feared dead, officials said Tuesday.

The body of one of the boat passengers meanwhile had been found in the Majene waters and was taken ashore by a navy warship to Majene port, while eight more survivors were picked up from the rough seas, said Junaidi, an official in the West Sulawesi port town of Majene.

He said seven of the survivors were picked up by a cargo vessel that passed around the sunken ferry and they were taken to the Makassar port in south Sulawesi capital.

Jakarta  - Fighting high waves and bad weather, rescuers resumed their search Monday as more than 200 people remained missing after a passenger ferry capsized off the Indonesian province of West Sulawesi the day before.

Raden Arsono, an official at the Search and Rescue (SAR) agency in the South Sulawesi capital Makassar, said so far only 20 survivors had been found after two other survivors were reportedly picked up by local fishermen Monday morning, leaving 248 people missing and feared drowned.