Malaysian rescuers found a fourth body at sea Monday as authorities said they may soon end the search for 36 other Indonesians missing after their boat sank on the way home to celebrate Eid al-Fitr.
Rescuers were searching for 40 Indonesians including women and children on Saturday after a boat carrying them home to celebrate the end of the Islamic fasting month sank off Malaysia.
The United Nations on Friday said it was "troubled" by Australia's decision to send asylum-seekers arriving by boat to Papua New Guinea given conditions there failed to adequately protect refugees.
Australia's conservative opposition unveiled plans Thursday for a military-led response to repel boatpeople, branding the problem a "national emergency".
Rescuers searched the seas off Indonesia's Java island Wednesday for possibly dozens of asylum-seekers missing after their Australia-bound boat sank, leaving at least three dead, with 157 saved.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday announced that no more boatpeople will be resettled in Australia with all unauthorised arrivals to be sent to poverty-stricken Papua New Guinea.
Spanish customs agents have intercepted a fishing boat carrying just over 17 tonnes of hashish in the Mediterranean and detained the ship's 14 crew members, all of them Egyptian nationals.
South Korean rescuers Wednesday resumed a search for 10 missing crewmen from two Chinese fishing boats as the confirmed death toll from a strong typhoon rose to 15.
