KUWAIT. PHILIPPINE VICE PRESIDENT IN KUWAIT TO APPEAL FOR LIFE OF FILIPINO TEACHER

Philippine Vice-President Noli de Castro went to Kuwait to negotiate for the life of Marilou Ranario, an overseas Filipino worker who was sentenced to death for murdering her employer.
De Castro said his mission in Kuwait was to appeal for the life of the 33-year old Filipina.
"Our mission here is to appeal for the life of Mrs. Ranario," de Castro was quoted as saying.
Apart from appealing for Ranario's case, de Castro was to convey condolences from President Gloria Arroyo to the emirate's royal family over the death of the emir, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah, who died on January 15 and was succeeded to the throne by his son, Prince Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah.
Ranario, a school teacher from Surigao del Sur in southern Philippines, had been sentenced to death by a Kuwaiti court for stabbing to death her employer in January 2005.
President Arroyo had ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs to "exhaust all diplomatic and legal means" to save the Filipina from being beheaded.
De Castro's group was to try convince authorities in Kuwait that Ranario was not mentally fit when she committed the crime.
The Philippines hoped to lower Ranario's sentence to life imprisonment.