Hanoi  - Police in Ho Chi Minh City arrested a man for running an illegal marriage brokerage that matched Vietnamese women and South Korean men, a policeman said Thursday.

Ly Toan Chan, 30, was arrested Wednesday as he was parading 23 women in front of a South Korean man and his sister, said Luu Cong Tai, the head officer on the case.

Tai said the South Korean man's passport was being held to prevent him from leaving the country and that police were recommending the local government fine him 15 million dong (847 dollars).

Banda Aceh  - In Indonesia's Aceh province, stories about young unmarried couples arrested by religious patrol officers make frequent headlines in local newspapers with tabloids exposing details of the offenders' sexual trysts.

Staunchly Muslim Aceh has imposed some aspects of sharia, or Islamic law, since 2002 under an autonomy scheme granted by the central government as part of attempts to pacify a clamour there for independence.

Paris  - A French soldier allegedly killed two fellow Foreign Legion members and a peacekeeper from Togo in an unexplained shooting Tuesday in Chad, French Defence Minister Herve Morin said late Tuesday in Paris.

The suspected killer was being sought by Chadian security forces.

The three legionaries were reportedly members of a French regiment based with European EUFOR troops in Abeche, Chad. The slain Togolese soldier was assigned to the United Nation's MINURCAT peacekeeping mission.

Nairobi/Abuja  - Nigerian militants have kidnapped a British oil worker, killing his police guard in the attack.

Nigeria's The Guardian newspaper said that the kidnapping took place in Rivers State capital Port Harcourt on Sunday.

The kidnap victim is believed to be Allan Priston, who works for the Nigerian company Adamac, which provides engineering services to oil companies.

Kidnappings of oil workers are common in the oil-producing Niger Delta, where armed groups say they are struggling for a fairer distribution of oil wealth.

Hong Kong  - Heroin has been found by police in the hotel room of a Hong Kong pop star arrested in Tokyo, news reports said Tuesday.

Ten packets of the drug were found in the hotel room of Jill Vidal, 26, also known as Wei Si, after her arrest in February, the Hong Kong Standard reported.

Vidal has been held in custody since her arrest with fellow Hong Kong pop star Kelvin Kwan on suspicion of possessing cannabis. Kwan was released on March 28 without charge.