Jakarta  - An international Islamic economic conference ended Wednesday with calls for the reduction of trade barriers, development of alternative energy sources and stricter regulations in the global financial industry.

The three-day World Islamic Economic Forum in Jakarta, attended by 1,500 delegates from 38 countries, discussed ways to deal with the global financial crisis and food security, as well as exploring possibilities for non-carbon fuels.

Jakarta - Four Indonesians have died of bird flu this year, bringing the national death toll from the disease to 119, an official said Tuesday.

Three of the victims were from West Java province while the other lived in East Java, said the official, who declined to be identified because the person was not authorized to speak to the media.

The official declined to give further details.

Indonesia has the highest death toll in the world from bird flu.

Since last year Indonesia has stopped announcing bird flu deaths on a case-by-case basis and instead reported them every few months.

Jakarta  - A tiger mauled two people to death in Jambi on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, bringing to eight the number of humans killed by the endangered beasts in the province this year, an official said Tuesday.

The two victims, identified as Musmuliadi, 31, and Musliadi, 30, were attacked on Sunday night while working in an illegal logging camp in a forest in Jambi province, said the head of the provincial Natural Conservation Office, Didy Wurjanto.

Jakarta - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Monday called on Muslims and non-Muslims to join hands in overcoming the economic crisis by taking the right policy measures and showing unyielding determination.

"The crises will not go away by themselves. We must come to grips with them, overcome them and make sure their history is never more repeated," he said in his opening remarks at the fifth World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) in Jakarta.

"The only way to do that is for all of us in the human race - Muslims and non-Muslims - to work closely together as we have never done before."

Jakarta  - A series of religious edicts issued by Indonesia's council of Muslim scholars has triggered controversy, exposing sharp divisions between conservatives and liberals in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

In January, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued a fatwa, or religious edict, banning Muslims from practising yoga that includes Hindu rituals, such as chanting.

It also ruled smoking in public and abstaining from electoral voting are sinful.

Jakarta - Indonesia must crack down on forest clearing after tigers killed six people in less than a month on Sumatra island, the global conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said on Wednesday.

Three people were mauled to death by Sumatran tigers over the weekend, bringing to six the number of people to have been killed in Jambi province by the endangered beasts since late January, officials said.