Taipei - Three Taiwanese have been sentenced by a local court for posing as religious masters and forcing a man to have sex with his three daughters, a newspaper said Saturday.

The three defendants - Chang Yao-ming, Chen Ming-tsun and Hsu Su- chun (female) - set up a sect several years ago in Pingtung County in south Taiwan, the Liberty Times said.

Calling their sect the "Save the World and True Life Religion," they posed as religious masters and claimed they had the power to cure illnesses.

In 2005, a local man sought help for his sick wife at the temple run by the trio, the paper said.

Zamboanga City, Philippines  - Muslim militants on Friday freed unharmed an abducted employee of a lending firm in the southern Philippines after three days of captivity, a military spokeswoman said.

Ammad Sali was one of two of the firm's employees abducted Tuesday in Sumisip town in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila.

Sali was recovered by troops in the village of Mahayhay in nearby Maluso town Friday morning, said Lieutenant Esteffani Cacho, a regional military spokeswoman.

Manila - Two employees of a lending firm were abducted in the southern Philippines in the latest in a series of kidnappings, police said Wednesday.

The victims, Lea Patris and Ammad Sali, were kidnapped Tuesday in Sumisip town in Basilan province, 900 kilometres south of Manila, while they were collecting payments.

The provincial police chief, Senior Superintendent Salik Macapantar, said a third companion was able to escape and report the incident to police.

Macapantar said police officers and marines were pursuing the kidnappers.

Wellington - Two brothers convicted of murdering a 3-year-old girl who was kicked to death after months of abuse, including being hung and spun on a rotary clothesline and put into a tumble dryer, were sent to prison for a minimum of 17 and a half years Wednesday, news reports said.

Wiremu Curtis, 19, and Michael Curtis, 22, were found guilty late last year of the murder of Nia Glassie, who died from severe brain damage in August 2007, 12 days after being taken to hospital.

New Delhi - Two policemen were suspended from their jobs Tuesday for beating up a 6-year-old Dalit girl for allegedly stealing 280 rupees (less than 6 dollars) in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state, news reports said.

The incident, which was caught on camera, showed the station officer of Jaswantpur area in Etawah town grabbing and lifting the tiny low-caste girl by her hair and threatening her while another officer and at least six policemen looked on.

Islamabad - Pakistani investigators were examining evidence Tuesday connected to the kidnapping of a United Nations official in the south-western province of Balochistan the previous day.

Gunmen abducted US citizen John Solecki, local head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in the provincial capital Quetta as his Pakistani chauffer drove him to work at around 8:45 am (0345 GMT) without any escort.