Abdullah to take charge as PM on leave
Abdullah to take charge as PM on leave
MALAYSIA: Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's deputy Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi, who takes over Malaysia's leadership in October, is to
begin a two-month stint as acting prime minister on Thursday.
Mahathir, 77, is going on extended leave after attending an
emergency session of the Organization of the Islamic Conference
(OIC) in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday, according to a statement
issued by his office.
Abdullah's two months at the helm will be a rehearsal for when
he replaces Mahathir, who has announced that he will retire after
an OIC summit here on Oct. 11-14.
Mahathir, who has been in power for 21 years, originally
intended to quit last year but agreed to stay on until after the
summit on condition he could take two months' leave. Abdullah,
63, will also take charge of the finance ministry during
Mahathir's absence. --AFP
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Aglance-S'pore-rape
Stepdad sentenced to 24 years, 24 strokes of cane for rape
JP/11/ASEAN
Stepdad jailed 24 years for rape
SINGAPORE: An office assistant who had been raping his 14-year-
old stepdaughter for two years was sentenced to 24 years in a
Singapore jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane for his
"bestial" acts, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The girl had tried to run away from home, and her mother took
her to see her school's discipline master, to whom the teenager
first revealed that her stepfather had been raping her since she
was 12, The Straits Times said.
The 42-year-old man had abused his position of trust and had
taken advantage of the girl's vulnerability, Deputy Public
Prosecutor Benjamin Yim told a court on Monday.
The girl was 3 years old when her mother, a divorcee, married
the accused in 1991. --DPA
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Saigon love: 36,000 Vietnamese whisked off their feet by
foreigner
JP/11/ASEAN
36,000 Saigon girls wed foreigners
VIETNAM: Nearly 36,000 Vietnamese women from the southern
business capital of Ho Chi Minh City have tied the knot with
foreigners over the past seven years, according to official
figures.
"From 1995 until the end of 2002, we granted licenses to
35,993 Vietnamese women to wed their foreign partners," a justice
department official from the city, formerly known as Saigon, said
on Tuesday.
The grooms came from 50 different countries, with Taiwanese
men heading the list. They were followed by their male
counterparts from the United States, Australia, Canada and
France.
A recent survey conducted by the city's Institute of Social
Sciences said that 8 percent of Vietnamese women married to
Taiwanese men were illiterate, while 40 percent had only gone to
school for one year.
Over 60 percent of the brides-to-be were aged between 18-21
while more than 70 percent of their Taiwanese partners were aged
over 40. --AFP
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Aglance-Thailand-king
Thai king admitted to hospital for hernia treatment
JP/11/ASEAN
Thai king admitted to hospital
THAILAND: Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej was admitted to
hospital on Tuesday for treatment of a hernia, the Bureau of the
Royal Household said.
The 75-year-old monarch entered Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital
about 5:30 p.m. for treatment of a hernia condition on his right
side discovered in November and which doctors said became further
aggravated this January, an official statement said.
Treatment was delayed until March due to the king's busy
schedule, it said.
The king was seen on Thai television walking into the hospital
accompanied by his wife Queen Sirikit, Crown Prince Maha
Vajiralongkorn and other close relatives. Last June the king had
a successful operation to treat a left-side hernia.
In February 2002 he was hospitalized for prostate surgery
after a nine-year ailment, which a royal statement at the time
said was "not serious". --AFP