News In Brief

French journalist sentenced to jail in Afghanistan

An 18-year jail sentence imposed on French journalist Jacques Abouchar by a Kabul court is a clear warning to Western reporters to stay out of Afghanistan, Western diplomats and Afghan exiles said Sunday.

Mr. Abouchar, sentenced Saturday for entering the country illegally on Sept. 17, was the first Western journalist to be caught in Afghanistan since shortly after the Soviet invasion there in December 1979, they said.