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.

Jakarta, Mar. 16: The Australian embassy attacker, Rois Abu Syaukat a. k. a Iman Darmawan has scripted a book that preaches ‘jihad’.

Syaukat, in his 224 page book named What is Jihad? has claimed that the attack was warranted because it targeted ‘non-believers’. The Sun reports.

He provided the logistics for the September 2004 bombing, in which nine Indonesians were killed.

Syaukat is currently serving a death sentence.

This is not the first instance when any militant has published book justifying their deeds.

Earlier, the three Bali bombers Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra also came out with similar publication known as the ‘martyr trilogy’.

Jakarta  - Leaders of Indonesia's political parties on Monday kicked off their nationwide campaigns for the April 9 parliamentary elections, to be followed by presidential elections in July.

Electoral authorities have registered 38 parties to contest 128 seats in the upper house and 560 seats in the lower house.

In Jakarta, representatives of dozens of parties gathered at an exhibition hall to sign a joint declaration for a peaceful campaign.