FOR more than seven years, from when she was eight, a girl was sexually abused over and over by a temple medium regarded by her parents as a close family friend.

He was a 'spiritual advisor' to the child's father, who was also a temple medium.

They trusted him so much that they let him sleep in their flat on many occasions, during which time he would abuse the child.

JAKARTA - SUSPECTED Islamist suicide bombers detonated high-explosive devices in two luxury Jakarta hotels popular with foreigners on Friday, killing at least nine people, officials said.

Witnesses described grim scenes with bloodied survivors fleeing in panic from the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels, as terrorism returned to the world's most populous Muslim nation after four years without a major attack.

NEW YORK - TROUBLED US banking giant Citigroup said Friday it earned a profit of US$4.3 billion (S$6.22 billion) in the second quarter, resulting from a big one-time gain on a joint brokerage venture.

Citi's results rebounded from a US$2.49 billion loss in the same period a year ago, but the profit came from a one-time pretax gain of US$6.7 billion, or US$11.1 billion before taxes, from creating the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney joint brokerage.

TEHERAN - DEFIANT supporters of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi staged fresh demonstrations in Tehran Friday, witnesses said, after a powerful cleric called for the release of detainees held in a post-election crackdown.

Thousands of Mousavi supporters, shouting 'Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein!' and 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest) demonstrated at various locations around Tehran university where Friday prayers were led by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.