JAKARTA - A FORMER rebel whose wife is contesting regional elections in Indonesia's Aceh province has been fatally shot, raising fears the April polls could descend into violence, police and party officials said on Friday.

JAKARTA - INDONESIA will extradite three pedophile suspects, including an Australian Roman Catholic priest accused of abusing young boys, officials said on Friday.

Benny Mamoto, the deputy head of Interpol Indonesia, said the men are among six foreigners who will be repatriated in coming weeks.

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S incoming prime minister will face his first referendum in two simultaneous by-elections just days after taking office in early April.

The polls, to be held a month after the government's rollout of a second stimulus package, will also gauge public acceptance of Mr Najib Razak's management of a country whose exports are tumbling and whose economy looks set to slide into its first likely recession in eight years.