Jakarta - Indonesia has stepped up security at major installations and public places ahead of the execution of three Muslim extremists convicted for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings, a police spokesman said Friday.

"National police have ordered security be improved at shopping centres, malls and other strategic places across Central and East Java, and Banten provinces," said national police spokesman Abukakar Nataprawira. "Security will also be focused at the Australian and the US embassies in Jakarta."

Nataprawira declined to say when exactly the executions were to take place.

Jakarta - Indonesia's parliament on Thursday passed an anti-pornography bill into law, which Islamic parties and organizations argued is needed to save the country from immoral behaviour.

Shouts of "Alhamdulillah" ("Thanks be to God") came from the balcony of the House of Representatives' plenary hall as the gavel was banged to mark the passing of the bill, witnesses said.

The bill, which outlaws pornographic acts and dissemination of overtly sexual images has been almost a decade in the making and has been watered-down on several occasions amid rows over the definition of pornography.

Jakarta - An Indonesian court Thursday sentenced two Muslim hardliners to 18 months in prison each for their roles in a violent attack against an interfaith rally in June that left dozens of people injured.

The Central Jakarta district court found Munarman, head of the Islam Troop Command (KLI), "guilty of committing violent acts against people and people's property in public."

Munarman, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, was found responsible for his group's involvement in attacj against activists of the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion (AKKBB) during a peaceful rally on June 1.

Jakarta, Oct 29 : The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) is planning to report to the police a rich Muslim cleric in Semarang, Central Java, who married a

12-year-old girl, accusing him of having illegal sex with a minor.

KPAI secretary Hadi Supeno said on Sunday that the commission’s fact-finding team sent to Semarang at the weekend found that cleric Pujiono Cahyo Widianto, 43, owner

and head of an Islamic boarding school there, had married and very likely slept with 12-year-old Lutfiana Ulfa.

“According to the girl’s parents and some witnesses, the marriage between Pujiono and Lutfiana is valid according to religion (kawin siri), but it is not registered with the

Jakarta - Indonesia's anti-corruption court on Wednesday sentenced a former central bank governor to five years in prison for misappropriating millions of dollars in bank funds.

The court also ordered Burhanuddin Abdullah to pay a 250-million-rupiah (25,000-dollar) fine.

Abdullah was convicted of using a foundation linked to Bank Indonesia to pay bribes of about 10 million dollars to members of parliament deliberating amendments of the central bank law in 2004 and to cover the cost of legal assistance for former senior bank officials.

Abdullah, who was replaced in May after his five-year term as governor expired, was arrested in April by the country's Corruption Eradication Commission.

Jakarta - Indonesia has ordered state companies to place their US dollars at home and plans to scrap a levy on overseas palm-oil sales to bolster the rupiah after the currency plunged to its lowest level since 2001, media reports said Wednesday.

The government and central bank also plan to buy bonds from the market to restore investor confidence, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Tuesday night after a cabinet meeting.

The rupiah fell as much as 8.7 per cent Tuesday to 11,900 against the dollar before recovering to 10,900 on suspected intervention by the central bank as Indonesian stocks declined to their lowest values since December 2005.