■LAOS
Pregnant Briton sentenced
A court found a pregnant British woman guilty of trafficking heroin and sentenced her to life in prison on Wednesday, a court official said. The life sentence for 20-year-old Samantha Orobator came after a one-day trial in the capital, said Chanthaly Duangvilai, vice president of the Vientiane Court. Orobator pleaded guilty, the court official said at a press briefing after the trial, adding that she named several of her alleged accomplices in her testimony. She was the only defendant in the case. Heroin trafficking is punishable by death, but she was spared because law does not allow the execution of pregnant women, Chanthaly said. Under a pact signed last month with Britain that still needs ratification, Orobator could be extradited to serve her time in the UK. Officials, however, could still veto her return.
■JAPAN
Alleged kidnapper arrested
Police yesterday arrested a Chinese man following an Interpol request, an official said, amid reports he was a suspected member of a gang that has kidnapped children in his home country. Police suspect He Guangqiang, 39, entered the country on a fake passport two years ago and has stayed at a Tokyo apartment ever since, a spokesman at the metropolitan police department said. The suspect was caught after the international police agency Interpol in Beijing requested cooperation, the official said, without giving further information. The suspect was expected to be extradited to China shortly.
■PHILIPPINES
Vessels search for boat
Rescue vessels and a helicopter scoured the rough seas in the east yesterday for a fishing boat that disappeared with 21 people aboard, officials said. The small boat left Cataduanes Island on Wednesday afternoon but failed to arrive at its destination in nearby Rapu-Rapu Island, a distance of about 40km, said disaster official Cedric Daep in Albay Province. Navy vessels and an air force helicopter launched a search yesterday as soon as the weather improved, the coast guard said. The boat operator sent a cell phone text message to his relatives saying they encountered rough weather, a radio report said.
■INDONESIA
Authorities detain migrants
Authorities have detained 59 Afghan and Pakistani migrants on eastern Sumba Island and arrested four alleged people-smugglers trying to send them to Australia, police said yesterday. The migrants were traveling from neighboring Sumbawa Island’s coastal town of Bima to Australia on Wednesday, East Sumba police chief Petra Putra said. The police also arrested a boat captain and three crew members on suspicion of people-smuggling. Crew member Adhar said he had been paid 2 million rupiah (US$200) to bring the migrants to Australia.
■PHILIPPINES
Peace activist released
A Sri Lankan peace activist kidnapped by Islamic militants in the south almost four months ago has been safely released, police said yesterday. Umar Jaleel was rescued late on Wednesday from his Abu Sayyaf captors in the town of Tipo-Tipo on Basilan Island, regional police spokesman Superintendent Danilo Bacas said. No other details were released. Jaleel’s group, the Brussels-based Nonviolent Peaceforce, said he was freed after negotiations facilitated by local contacts in Basilan. Jaleel was seized by teenaged gunmen on Feb. 13.
■ISRAEL
Officials give mixed signals
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