The trial against a pregnant British woman on heroin trafficking charges opened today, in a case that has raised questions about how she managed to conceive while behind bars.

A British woman facing trial in Laos for alleged heroin trafficking secretly impregnated herself with the sperm of another prisoner in a bid to escape the death sentence, a government-run newspaper said today.

Vast areas of forest are being illegally felled to fuel a demand for cheap furniture in the West, environment watchdogs said today.