RI maid facing death in double murder

RI maid facing death in double murder

SINGAPORE: A 22-year-old Indonesian maid appeared in a Singapore
court on a double murder charge on Tuesday, accused of stabbing
her employer and a three-year-old daughter and setting fire to
their room.

Sundarti Supriyanto faces the death penalty if convicted of
the killings.

Firemen found the bodies of Angie Ng, 34, and her daughter
Crystal Poh inside a blazing office two weeks ago while Sundarti
was outside "screaming hysterically" and clutching Ng's 18-month-
old son Leon, the local media reported. The maid and baby both
had burns to their faces.

Sundarti, said to have been working for Ng for just two weeks
before the fire, was arrested on Monday after being discharged
from a hospital burns unit. A surveillance camera at a nearby
service station had filmed Sundarti buying a can of petrol a few
hours before the fire erupted. --AFP

;AP;KOD;
ANPAu..r..
Aglance-Thailand-Myanmar
Myanmar stops buying power from Thailand over border tensions
JP//ASEAN

Yangon stops buying power from Bangkok

MYANMAR: Yangon has stopped buying electricity from Thailand for
two major trading towns along their border, officials said on
Tuesday amid frayed relations between the two countries over a
military clash last month.

Hundreds of homes, shops, hotels, casinos and night clubs in
Myanmar's Tachilek town across Thailand's northern border went
dark on Monday night after Myanmar authorities unplugged the
power supply, Thai officials said. Large parts of Myawadi,
another border town, were also blacked out.

Tachilek and Myawadi have been closed since May 21, a day
after Myanmar accused the Thai military of shelling its territory
in support of ethnic Shan rebels attacking Myanmar army outposts.

Myanmar has closed major border crossings with Thailand,
banned advertisements of Thai products, expelled Thai workers and
banned visits of official Thai delegations. --AP

;REUTERS;KOD;
ANPAu..r..
Aglance-Thailand-torture
Torture by Thai police and army widespread-Amnesty
JP/9/ASEAN

Thai police and army accused of torture

THAILAND: Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Thailand's
police and army of widely using torture in prisons and while
interrogating criminal suspects.

The London-based human rights watchdog said in a new report
ethnic minorities were particularly vulnerable to abuse and it
called on the government to investigate torture and punish
officers found responsible.

"Torture should not be accepted as normal behavior -- it is a
gross abuse of power," the report said.

It said the police and army routinely used torture and ill-
treatment in detention, shortly after arrest, during transport of
detainees and in military drug rehabilitation camps set up to end
addiction to opium amongst hill-tribe people.

Amongst examples of torture cited by the human rights group
was the case of a suspect in the high-profile murder of British
backpacker Kirsty Jones in 2000. --Reuters