KL offers new water deal to S'pore
KL offers new water deal to S'pore
SINGAPORE: Singapore and Malaysia ended two days of talks over
water and other contentious issues on Tuesday with Malaysia
offering a new pricing formula for the water it sells.
Malaysia pumps millions of gallons of water to the resource-
parched city state each day under two deals signed in the early
1960s. But the two sides have not been able to agree on how much
Singapore should pay in future.
Singapore Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar told reporters after
the meetings of the two nations' delegates the city state would
consider the new Malaysian proposal. Jayakumar declined to
disclose details of the new offer.
Other issues unresolved since a first meeting in July include
a new bridge, treatment of Malaysian pensions held by Singapore
and use of Malaysian airspace by the island's jet fighters.
--Reuters
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Aglance-Thailand-weather
Mudslide, floods in Thai refugee camp kill 14, 20 missing: offici
JP/12/ASEAN
Refugee camp swept away by flood
THAILAND: Fourteen people were killed and 20 were missing after a
mudslide and floodwaters hit a refugee camp on the Thailand-
Myanmar border, officials said on Tuesday.
Witnesses at the Ban Sala camp in Mae Hong Son province, which
is home to more than 15,000 mostly Karen and Karenni refugees,
said that some 300 wooden and bamboo buildings were swept away in
the disaster.
Three primary schools, a church, and a hospital for the
disabled had been destroyed, said Wai Lin Zin from the All Burma
Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), an activist group operating in
the camp.
Some 200-300 soldiers, border patrol police and staff with
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were involved in the
operation, searching for bodies and helping the homeless, a
provincial spokesman said. --AFP
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Aglance-Malaysia-naked uproar
Malaysian movie takes heat from Islamic fundamentalists over nude
JP/12/ASEAN
Movie takes heat over nude scene
MALAYSIA: Islamic fundamentalists in a northern state pulled the
plug on the premiere of a Malaysian movie after its director
admitted she filmed an actor in the nude, officials said on
Tuesday.
About 10,000 people had been expected to attend a special
screening of Embun, which means "dew" in the Malaysian language,
at a soccer stadium late Monday in Kelantan state, 540 kilometers
northeast of Kuala Lumpur.
But state officials canceled the event because the movie was
"considered morally unsuitable for the general public,"
Takiyuddin Hassan, Kelantan's head of public administration,
said.
The film has drawn widespread criticism in this conservative,
mostly Muslim country over the past week after actor Izi Yahya,
who plays a villainous Japanese soldier in the World War II film,
revealed that he had stripped for a rape scene on the instruction
of director Erma Fatima. --AP
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Aglance-Singapore-bribes
Singapore immigration officer sentenced to six months in jail for
JP/12/ASEAN
Diplomat sentenced to 6 months jail
SINGAPORE: A former immigration officer was sentenced on Tuesday
to six months in jail and fined for taking S$535 (US$305) worth
of bribes in a rare case of corruption in the city state.
Singapore's Subordinate Court last month found Aloysius
Michael, 32, guilty of taking bribes in the form of an air
ticket, cash and wine from two Indian nationals in 1998 when he
was Singapore's vice consul in India. Michael took the bribes in
exchange for processing their visa applications.
Michael was also fined S$535, according to a court spokeswoman
who requested anonymity.
Government employees in Singapore are among the highest paid
in Asia and laws against corruption are among the toughest. --AP