Jiang Zemin meets Jamaican PM: Chinese President Jiang Zemin met yesterday with visiting Jamaican Prime Minister Percival Patterson. Xinhua says from Beijing.

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongiji held talks with Patterson on Thursday the talks covered Sion-Jamaican relations and international issues of common concern. Patterson arrived here Wednesday evening at the invitation of Zhu Ronji.

Japan to send aid to E Russia: Japan will deliver humanitarian aid worth 5 million yen to a town on Russia's Sakhalin Island that was wiped out by forest fire, a news report said yesterday. AP says from Moscow.

The aid will be delivered next week to some 700 residents of the Gorky township on the Sakhalin Island, which burned down completely in the fire last month, the Interfax news agency reported. The aid will include blankets, pillows and sheets, the report said.

Colombian rebels hold 12 aliens: Leftist rebels here are holding at least 12 kidnapped foreigners from four continents, a spokesman for Colombia's antikidnapping office said Thursday, AFP says from Bogota.

Guerillas from the country's two main rebel armies are holding two Germans, one Canadian, one Briton, one French woman, one Italian, one Japanese, two Ecuadorans, two Venezuelans and one Mexican, the spokesman told AFP. He did not release names.

UK newsman held for drug trafficking: Malaysian police arrested a British journalist for allegedly smuggling heroin in condoms stashed in his underwear, a news report said yesterday. AP says from Kuala Lumpur.

In Malaysia, a drug trafficking conviction carries a mandatory death sentence. The 55-year-old man. identified only as a freelance journalist, was stopped by airport security before boarding a flight from the northeastern state of Penang to Australia.