Cabbie jailed for molesting maid
Cabbie jailed for molesting maid
SINGAPORE: A Singaporean man has been sentenced to a year in jail for molesting a teenage maid that he hired to care for his dying wife, according to a court official and newspaper reports on Friday.
Michael Jacob De Costa, a 51-year-old taxi driver, also was fined S$4,000 (US$2,300) by the Subordinate Court on Thursday for touching the 18-year-old Indonesian woman's breast and buttocks last year.
De Costa was caught after the maid confided in his wife's doctor, according to The Straits Times. The doctor -- who was treating the dying woman at the family's house -- then told De Costa's daughter, who took the matter to police, the newspaper said.
De Costa said he only poked the maid on the lower back to get her attention and brushed against her breast accidentally as she gave him a massage, the newspaper said. --AP
;REUTERS;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Thailand-floods Thai monsoon floods kill 39, thousands homeless JP/11/ASEAN
Thai monsoon floods kill 39
THAILAND: Floods have killed at least 39 people and damaged more than 150,000 houses in Thailand over the last month as monsoon rains have swollen rivers and lakes across the country, the Thai interior ministry said on Friday.
Thailand's north and east have been worst hit with some districts reporting their most severe flooding for decades and the seasonal rains showing no signs of abating, officials said.
Floodwaters in some towns and villages in these provinces are as high as three meters above street level, trapping thousands of villagers inside their homes and cutting off electricity and fresh water supplies.
The death toll included at least 16 refugees from the Karen ethnic minority living in a makeshift settlement in northern Mae Hong Son Province near the Myanmar border. --Reuters
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Cambodia-politics Sniper fires on Cambodia's Sam Rainsy Party office JP/11/ASEAN
Sniper fires on opposition office
CAMBODIA: A sniper fired a shot into the headquarters of Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) on Friday, said the party secretary, who was narrowly missed by the bullet.
SRP secretary Nob Eourn said the shot was fired at 8:15 a.m. when he was photocopying documents inside his office.
The shots were fired hours after SRP chief Sam Rainsy received a "freedom award" in the United States from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Washington and human rights groups have expressed concern over what they see as intimidation against Sam Rainsy Party activists ahead of Cambodia's general election next July.
Concern was particularly acute during commune elections in February which took place amid threats, intimidation, killings and vote-buying. Election monitors fear a repeat in the lead-up to the next polls. --AFP
;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Malaysia-Opposition Court finds in favor of Malaysian opposition, but stops short of JP/11/ASEAN
Court finds in favor of opposition
MALAYSIA: Malaysia's highest court on Friday delivered a partial victory to four jailed opposition figures and a stinging rebuke to police for claiming the four were arrested for threatening national security.
Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah said there was "much force" to the detainees' claim that police had an "ulterior purpose" in arresting them -- stifling political opposition to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government.
But despite ruling the arrests were illegal, Dzaiddin and three other judges sitting as a panel stopped short of ordering the group's release. They said that home minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's orders that the group be imprisoned for two years without trial remained in force. --AP