Indonesian arrested for abusing boy
Indonesian arrested for abusing boy
HONG KONG: An Indonesian domestic helper has been arrested for allegedly abusing her employer's 14-month-old boy, police said on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old maid, surnamed Rosikah, was arrested on Tuesday after the boy's mother saw her allegedly beating the toddler on film from a hidden video camera installed in the flat, said a police spokesman, Mackenzie Mak.
The boy suffered bruises on his forehead and right foot, Mak said. He was in satisfactory condition in hospital, said a government spokesman, speaking on terms of customary anonymity.
Local media reported that the toddler's mother installed the surveillance camera after discovering minor injuries on her son on several occasions.
An estimated 66,000 Indonesians work as live-in maids in Hong Kong to support their poor families back home. --AP
;REUTERS;KOD; ANPAu..r.. ATW-AUSTRALIA-IMMIGRANTS Australia military takes blame for asylum furor JP/10/ATW
Aussie military takes scandal blame
AUSTRALIA: Australia's defense force chief took the blame on Wednesday for an asylum scandal dogging the government, admitting that suggestions that a boatload of illegal migrants had thrown their children into the sea were false.
Declaring the "buck stops" with him, Admiral Chris Barrie told a news conference that a mix-up in military communications had caused him to pass on incorrect information to Prime Minister John Howard and former defense minister Peter Reith.
"After speaking at considerable length on Sunday with Commander Banks, the commanding officer of HMAS Adelaide, I have now reached the conclusion that there is no evidence to support the claim that children were thrown overboard," Barrie said.
Barrie, who was referring to the Australian warship at the center of the scandal, said the armed forces would investigate the breakdown in communication. --Reuters
;AP;EGO; ANPAi..r.. ATW-Japan-surveillance Notorious Tokyo red-light zone now web of surveillance cameras JP/10/ATW
Red-light zone recorded by secret cameras
JAPAN: Vagrants and visitors to Tokyo's raunchiest red-light district beware - someone's watching you.
Beginning on Wednesday, nearly every public nook and cranny of the crime-ridden Kabukicho entertainment district will be filmed 24-hours a day by 50 secret cameras tucked behind billboards and stashed behind street lights.
It's part of an unprecedented sweep to clean up a quarter as popular for its drinking holes, karaoke haunts and hostess clubs as it is notorious for gangster shoot outs, gambling dens and brothels.
Crime in the cramped neighborhood has skyrocketed in recent years, peaking at 5,388 cases in 2000, according to the most recent figures. That's about 40 times the Tokyo average, when calculated on the basis of crimes per square meter
Use of surveillance cameras is common elsewhere in Tokyo, but has never been pioneered on such an intensive scale, police spokesman Yasunori Fujita said. The idea: Catch crooks on camera, and cut down on crime. -- AP
;AFP;EGO; ANPAi..r.. ATW-Afghan-women New magazine celebrates bravery of Afghan women JP/10/ATW
Magazine depicts Afghan women's bravery
AFGHANISTAN: As Afghanistan's cultural life recovers from the devastation of Taliban rule, a new women's magazine has hit the streets with a message of defiance for armed men who still run much of the country.
Filled with political and social comment, interviews with prominent women and poems from contributors, Malalai is the second women's magazine launched in the Afghan capital, Kabul, since the fall of the Taliban last November.
Editor Jamila Mujahed said the magazine took its name, and inspiration, from a legendary Afghan woman who led a band of guerrilla fighters against invading British troops in the 1880s.
In a country wracked by war for more than two decades and still at the mercy of tribal militias and warlords, Malalai's portrait on the back cover is a powerful symbol of the battles women have fought for freedom in Afghanistan. --AFP