Bali Island, Indonesia - South-East Asian nations must take stronger measures to curb sexual exploitation of children in the tourism industry, delegates at an international conference on child sex tourism said Friday.

A statement issued at the end of the conference on Indonesia's resort island of Bali warned that the current global financial crisis would increase children's vulnerability to child sex tourism.

Jakarta - An exiled separatist leader seeking independence for Indonesia's easternmost Papua region called Friday for a peaceful solution to the conflict.

Nicholas Jouwe, 85, the Dutch-based co-founder of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), returned to Indonesia Wednesday for the first time after more than 40 years in exile.

He met with government officials in Jakarta in a move that could pave the way for a peace pact to end the insurgency.

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.