Zamboanga City, Philippines - An Italian staffer of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) abducted by Muslim militants in the southern Philippine was able to get his medicine to treat his high blood pressure, a government statement said Saturday.

Eugenio Vagni received his medicine from a government emissary who visited the kidnappers' lair on Jolo island, 1,000 kilometres south of Manila, it said.

Vagni along with fellow Red Cross personnel Andreas Notter of Switzerland and Mary Jean Lacaba of the Philippines was kidnapped January 15 by separatist rebels shortly after visiting the Sulu provincial jail.

Mexico City  - A Mexican beauty queen arrested last December on suspected connections to illegal drugs was Friday released without being charged, the prosecutor's office said.

Laura Elena Zuniga, 23, who is Hispanic America Queen 2008 and was to represent Mexico in the Miss Universe 2009 pageant, was suspected of membership in a criminal organization, possessing illegal weapons and criminal violations of public health.

But prosecutors said Friday that they had not found any evidence that she was involved in criminal activity.

Seoul - A South Korean man who was arrested for murdering a student admitted to killing six other women, police officials in the northern Kyonggi province said Friday.

The 38-year-old said he raped his victims and then strangled them with a nylon stocking. The women had been reported missing between December 2006 and November 2008.

Singapore  - Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) has seized 44.2 kilograms of heroin last year, up from 17.2 kilograms seized in 2007, the Straits Times reported Friday.

A shipment of 11 kilograms of the higher-grade Heroin number 4, bound for the European market, was seized in June, said the daily, adding that the specific drug was not common in Singapore and it was the biggest seizure of its kind in the last 10 years.

The CNB also busted 25 drug trafficking syndicates in 41 operations in 2008. It said most of the heroin came from poppy yields in Thailand and Myanmar.

Manila  - The Philippine military said Thursday that the recent visit of a local official to three kidnapped staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross was "a step forward" in efforts to free them.

Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres, a military spokesman, said the visit also validated reports that the hostages - Swiss Andreas Notter, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipino Mary Jean Lacaba - were "still alive" and "not suffering."

Kuala Lumpur  - Malaysian police have detained 12 people, including six Singaporean nationals, believed to be part of an illegal gambling syndicate that raked in
172.8 million ringgit (52.4 million dollars) over the past six months, a news report said Thursday.

The suspects, aged between 18 and 48, were detained during a series of raids recently conducted in the southern state of Johor, the Star daily said.

The raids also resulted in the seizure of fax machines, laptops, betting slips and mobile phones.