Jakarta - An Indonesian district court on Monday sentenced three Muslim militants to up to nine years in prison after they were convicted of assisting and hiding leaders of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network.

The Central Jakarta District Court found Abu Husna, Agus Purwanto and Parmin guilty of violating the country's tough anti-terrorism laws, enacted just weeks after the October 2002 bombings of two nightspots on Bali island which killed at least 202 people, mostly foreign visitors.

Jakarta (Indonesia), Feb. 5 : Cricket has blossomed in Indonesia and administrators of the sport are now dreaming of an Indonesian cricket team emerging as a rival to Asian super powers India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Despite its proximity to cricket-mad Australia, the mainly Muslim country of 234 million people was a stranger to the sport until the early 1990s when a handful of eccentric expatriates started their own league.

The Daily Telegraph quoted Cricket Indonesia chairman Sachin Gopalan as saying:"It used to be only social games played by expatriates. But it has changed.''''

Jakarta - Women's emancipation and political differences have contributed to a sharp rise in divorce rates in Indonesia since democratic reforms were introduced more than 10 years ago after the fall of autocratic president Suharto, the Ministry of Religious Affairs said Thursday.

The divorce rate has increased steadily every year during the past decade and, during last year, 10 in 100 marriages ended in divorce, the ministry said in a news release posted on its website.

The ministry said 2 million couples get married every year in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.

Singapore - A Singapore housewife was sentenced to 10 months in jail for scalding her maid and sending her home to Indonesia without medical attention, media reports said Thursday.

A district judge found the accused, a 40-year-old mother of three, guilty of pouring hot water onto the back of her maid.

According to the public prosecutor, the maid, now 26, suffered second-degree burns to her neck, back and left shoulder that left her body blistered.

The housewife was also accused of trying to cover up the May 15, 2006, incident, by sending her maid back to Indonesia, the Straits Times newspaper reported.

Jakarta - Scars and welts suffered by Myanmar's Rohingya boat people rescued by the Indonesian Navy after drifting in the sea for three weeks were consistent with their claims that they had been mistreated by Thai authorities, an Indonesian doctor said Wednesday.

At least 198 refugees belonging to Myanmar's Rohingya ethnic minority who claimed they were fleeing persecution in their military-ruled country were rescued by the Indonesian navy off the coast of westernmost Aceh province early Tuesday.

Kuala Lumpur  - A Indonesian teenager was killed instantly when a modified firecracker exploded and hit him on the head in Malaysia's eastern state of Sarawak, a news report said Wednesday.

The 19-year-old victim was believed to have placed a firecracker inside a metal pipe with the hope of launching the explosive when the accident occurred, said Miri district police chief Jamaluddin Ibrahim.

"We believe that he was checking the firecracker after it failed to launch, when it suddenly blew out from the pipe and hit him straight on the head," Jamaluddin told the official Bernama news agency.