Jakarta - An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced three Islamic militants to 12 years each for plotting terrorist attacks and killing a Christian teacher.

The three men - Sugianto, Adityawarman and Heri Purwanto - were among 10 people arrested in the South Sumatran provincial capital Palembang last year for alleged involvement in a plot to bomb a cafe and to kill Christian priests as part of a jihad campaign waged by the Jemaah Islamiyah regional militant group.

Jakarta - An Indonesian man who confessed to murdering 11 people was sentenced to death on Monday.

The court in West Java's Depok district, just south of Jakarta, found Verry Idham Hermansyah, better known as Ryan, guilty of murdering Hery Santoso, who was stabbed and bludgeoned to death before being dismembered.

The man was believed to be Ryan's last murder victim.

Santoso's body parts were discovered by the Jakarta city police in a bag at a roadside the southern Jakarta on July 11, 2008.

Tokyo  - Japan and Indonesia signed an agreement on bilateral currency swap to increase the amount from 6 billion dollars to 12 billion dollars under an initiative to stabilize the financial state of the South-east Asian region, Japanese Finance Ministry said Monday.

Under the agreement, Indonesia would be able to swap rupiah worth up to 12 billion dollars when short-term liquidity support is needed.

Jakarta  - An Indonesian court on Monday sentenced to two years in prison the pilot of a Garuda Indonesia jetliner that crash-landed at Central Java's Yogyakarta airport two years ago, killing 21 people.

The majority of a panel of five judges at Central Java's Sleman District Court found Marwoto Komar guilty of negligence that caused deaths, the state-run Antara news agency reported.

Jakarta  - An airplane belonging to the Indonesian Air Force crashed Monday afternoon in West Java capital of Bandung, claiming some lives, news reports and officials said.

The Fokker airplane crashed at about 12:30 pm (0530 GMT) at Bandung's Hussein Sastranegara airport, reported detik. com online news portal.

An official at Bandung's Hassan Sadikin hospital said that an ambulance carrying eight body bags had been sent to the airport, but she was not sure how many people have been killed in the accident.

Banda Aceh, Indonesia  - Just four years ago, Yahya Muad and his comrades were hiding in the jungle while fighting a guerrilla war against the Indonesian army for an independent Aceh.

Now, sitting in a literally smoke-filled room in the headquarters of the Aceh Party, of which he is secretary general, he talks about democracy and peace under "a united Indonesia."