Banda Aceh – Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi inaugurated newly elected Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah and his deputy, Muzakir Manaf, at a ceremony here on Monday.

The swearing-in was held in conjunction with the Monday plenary session of the Aceh Legislative Council (DPRA) and was attended by some 6,000 guests, including members of the DPRA.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Tensions between Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah and his predecessor Irwandi Yusuf appear to have outlived the fraught election last April, with Zaini's supporters attacking his rival during Monday's inauguration ceremony.

Nurdin Hasan & Ezra Sihite – A mob of about 300 men vandalized a store that was being used for a church service by dozens of Bethel Christians in Aceh on Sunday. There were no casualties reported in the attack.

Zakir Hussain, Jakarta – Indonesia says several churches in Aceh were ordered shut not because of deepening religious conflict or intolerance, but because they did not have local permits.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – A 16-year-old boy was rushed to the hospital after being beaten by an angry mob in a raid on a group of teenagers suspected of having an orgy outside a village in Aceh on Wednesday.

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The discovery that a regent in Aceh ordered 20 places of worship closed in April is raising concerns that growing intolerance will trigger communal conflicts.

The closures were ordered by Aceh Singkil Acting Regent Razali AR in a letter signed on April 30 that also ordered members of the congregations to tear down the churches by themselves.

Ezra Sihite – Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said that he was disheartened by "rumored" demands to close 20 churches in Aceh, explaining that local residents need to accept that Indonesia is a pluralistic nation with more than one recognized religion.

Jakarta – Twenty churches in Singkil regency, Aceh, have been closed down and are likely to be demolished by the local administration.

According to a lawmaker from House of Representatives Commission III on human rights, Eva K. Sundari, the commission received complaints about the forced closure of 20 churches from the United North Sumatra Alliance on Monday.

Jakarta – Representatives of Christian worshipers from Aceh Singkil regency, Aceh, demanded on Tuesday that the government take action against what they say is the wrongful closure of their churches.

Michael Bachelard – In 2007, young Australian entrepreneur Dorjee Sun began a mission to save the world. He criss-crossed the globe with a documentary crew, inserting himself into climate change negotiations in a way which eventually made him one of Time magazine's "Heroes of the Environment".

Ahmad Pathoni, Banda Aceh – Shops in Indonesia's Aceh province, where Islamic law is in force, will soon be banned from selling tight-fitting clothes, an official said on Thursday.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Aceh Party politician Syukri Abdullah and his female business colleague were shot dead on Tuesday night as they were driving through the district of Bireuen to their respective homes in the neighboring province of Lhokseumawe. A third passenger in the victim's vehicle sustained minor injuries.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Another Christian house of worship has been sealed off in Aceh Singkil district, bringing the total since last week to 17 and marking a new low for religious intolerance in the staunchly Muslim province, a rights group said on Wednesday.

Aceh, North Sumatra – Sixty-two young women were detained in a raid for wearing tight clothing in Wilayatul Hisbah, Bireuen, Aceh on Tuesday evening.

Four of the 62 women detained are sales promotion girls who were promoting cigarettes near the area, and were wearing tight black pants, white tops and red jilbab (veils).

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The Aceh administration has shut down at least 16 Christian places of worship since May 2, alleging they were being run without permits and had been drawing complaints from locals.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Having failed to get reelected in the Aceh gubernatorial election on April 9, Irwandi Yusuf has established a new political party.

The National Aceh Party (PNA), which was registered on Tuesday, is chaired by Irwansyah, known as Teungku Muksalmina.

Langsa, Indonesia – Sharia police in Aceh, the only Indonesian province to practise the Islamic law, caned a homeless "punk" couple nine times Friday after they were caught having pre-marital sex in public.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Newly elected Aceh governor Zaini Abdullah, on Tuesday vowed to make stability and the economy his priorities during his time in office.

Hotli SImanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A return to the polls in at least five of the 17 regencies and municipalities across Aceh is being demanded to address claims of "cheating" in the April 9 election.

The five regions are Banda Aceh, Lhok Seumawe, Southeast Aceh, Central Aceh and West Aceh.

On last Monday, voters in Aceh went to the polls to elect a governor, a deputy governor and 17 mayors and regents. It was only the second gubernatorial election in the province since the peace accord between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist insurgency was signed in 2005.

Muhammad Nazar, one of a number of candidates running for the Aceh governorship, was surprised when he was informed that he had barely gathered 8 percent of total votes in the unofficial "quick counts" in Monday's election.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Police have arrested two former Free Aceh Movement members for allegedly masterminding a string of armed attacks in Aceh ahead of the province's recently-completed elections.

Michael Bachelard – When pentecostal pastor Danny Nalliah thundered that the 2009 Victorian bushfires were caused by God's wrath at that state's decision to decriminalise abortion, he was an outlier even among radical Christians.

Jakarta – More than 69,000 registered voters in the capital of Aceh province, Banda Aceh, did not cast their votes in the April 9 regional elections (pilkada), according to an Aceh official on Friday.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Just a day after Monday's largely peaceful elections, protests flared up in Aceh over allegations of cheating.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – The ruling Aceh Party is expected to win the gubernatorial, mayoral and district head polls due to the party's strong structure of command right down to the village level, analysts said on Tuesday.

Michael Bachelard – By western standards, the rooms are dingy, but Aceh's love hotel is doing a roaring trade.

"Fauzi", 45, who regularly brings his 25-year-old girlfriend to this motel-style hideaway in the suburbs of Banda Aceh, says he's not interested in luxury anyway. "All I need is a bed, air conditioning and a toilet."

Arlina Arshad – In Indonesia's only province ruled by strict Islamic law, the sight of the "morals police" prompts women to quickly adjust their headscarves and male and female companions to move apart.

Indonesia's only province ruled by hard-line Sharia law elects its governor on Monday, in polls watched by militant Muslims pushing for an Islamic government nationwide.

The elections in Aceh are the second since the province suffered 170,000 fatalities in the Asian tsunami of 2004, and since a 30-year war against Indonesian rule ended in 2005, having claimed 15,000 lives.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – An Aceh election official has warned of potential dirty tricks and intimidation in the province's remote areas during the vote count that will follow Monday's elections.

Michael Bachelard – One of two candidates likely to win the election in Indonesia's troubled westernmost province of Aceh has accused the other of authorising up to 13 murders in the lead-up to Monday's poll.

Farouk Arnaz – The security situation in Aceh remains largely trouble-free as campaigning for next Monday's elections winds down this week, police said on Tuesday.

Jakarta – As the situation in Aceh becomes more volatile ahead of the local election, the National Police are stepping up security measures in the country's westernmost province.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Islamic sharia remains the main political sales pitch among gubernatorial candidates to enable them to win the upcoming Aceh regional election scheduled for April 9.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Wider implementation of Shariah law, greater economic empowerment and better governance were among the platforms espoused on Friday by the five gubernatorial candidates in Aceh.

Farouk Arnaz – The police's elite counterterrorism unit has arrested five people in Aceh and North Sumatra believed to be linked to a spate of politically motivated attacks in the lead-up to elections in Aceh next month.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Five men accused of gambling were caned six times each while hundreds of people watched in Aceh on Friday.

Nurdin Hasan – An Aceh Party politician was shot in his home Thursday morning in what may be the latest instance of campaign violence leading up to Aceh's elections.

Saifuddin Yunus was rushed to the Lhokseumawe military hospital by his groundskeeper with a gunshot wound to the torso. Saifuddin was conscious and able to talk when he arrived at the hospital.

Nani Afrida – Political competition typically turn friends into rivals; an example evident to many Acehnese in the changing relationship between former governor Irwandi Yusuf and the former commander of the freedom fighters, Muzakir Manaf.

They are competing closely in the election scheduled for April 9, with Muzakir as the running mate of Zaini Abdullah.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Just like any mother, 60-year-old Maryani (not her real name) hoped that the ties binding her three beloved sons would always be strong after their suffering during decades of war in Aceh.

[Aceh's second direct gubernatorial election is scheduled for April 9, after five delays following unsolved deaths, violence and former governor Irwandi Yusuf's legal battle to run for governor again.

[Renewed violence in Aceh killed at least 15 people in at least three regencies since last October, with police saying they cannot identify most of the perpetrators. The following is a report by The Jakarta Post's Nani Afrida on post-conflict reconciliation, to be followed later this week by reports on the economy and the direct local elections.]

Nani Afrida – "Jakarta never keeps its promises," the Acehnese used to say. They would point to 1965, when founding father Sukarno promised them an autonomous province in return for their contribution to the fledgling republic; and 2001, when then president Megawati Soekarnoputri vowed that blood would no longer be spilled in Aceh.

Samantha Michaels & Emily Johnson, Banda Aceh – It's New Year's Eve, and a group of young friends have gathered at an outdoor basketball court in Banda Aceh for a late-night jam session. Here, where Sharia law reigns, unmarried men and women are not supposed to congregate, especially late at night, but a few young girls have decided to join in.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The Aceh legislative council finally passed a sharia bylaw on regional elections during a plenary session on Friday.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Police in Aceh are issuing increasingly strident demands for a reluctant public to relinquish the estimated thousand-odd firearms still held illegally after the province's civil war ended in 2005.

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The dispute between factions of former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members may escalate following a coordination meeting held by ex-guerrilla leaders to form a political counterweight to Aceh Party (PA), a local party founded by former combatants after a peace agreement was signed in Helsinki in 2005.

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – In a show of force by the winners of the last local elections, tens of thousands of members of the Aceh Party descended on the provincial capital on Sunday in support of the party's candidates for the April 9 polls.

Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – With political elites in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam at loggerheads with each other in a battle to rule the resource-rich province in the upcoming gubernatorial poll, violence threatens to tear the province apart.

Banda Aceh – Ulema in Aceh have warned Muslims, the younger generation in particular, that observing Valentine's Day is not allowed in Islam and against Shariah law that is in force in all of Aceh province.