RI Maid jailed for serving glass splinters
RI Maid jailed for serving glass splinters
MALAYSIA: An Indonesian maid was sentenced on Thursday to seven months in jail for serving her employer bread spread with jam containing glass splinters from a broken jar.
Elis Herawati Duki, 32, pleaded guilty to intentionally causing injury to her employer, Chin Foong Kiew, 41, and Chin's two-year-old son, Saw Sun Wei, the national news agency Bernama reported.
Chin, a doctor, felt something hard like sand when she bit into the bread and so did her child when he bit into a slice, police told the court.
The maximum penalty could have been 10 years imprisonment. Defense lawyers said that the maid truly regretted serving the broken glass and had never expected to be charged with a crime, Bernama reported. --AP
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Thailand-media Thailand withdraws deportation threat against foreign journalists JP/9/ASEAN
Deportation threat dropped
THAILAND: Thai authorities on Thursday withdrew moves to expel two Bangkok-based journalists with the Far Eastern Economic Review, who were labeled a threat to national security last month.
However, Interior Minister Purachai Piemsomboon indicated Bangkok bureau chief Shawn Crispin and senior correspondent Rodney Tasker could be forced to leave anyway when their visas expire later this year.
Immigration authorities will take the journalists' "behavior" over the coming months into consideration when deciding whether to renew their visas, he told reporters.
Interior Ministry deputy permanent-secretary Yongyoot Wichaidit said that a ministry committee had accepted an appeal lodged by the pair after they were served with deportation orders on Feb. 23.
The appeal was granted after FEER apologized over a Jan. 10 article headlined A Right Royal Headache which touched on differences between Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and King Bhumibol Adulyadej. --AFP
;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-KL-S'pore-reclaim Malaysian minister says Singapore project affects port, naval JP/9/ASEAN
S'pore project affects port: KL
MALAYSIA: A Singaporean project to reclaim land in the narrow waters between Malaysia and Singapore will jeopardize business for a Malaysian port and security for a naval facility, a senior Malaysian official said.
Abdul Ghani Othman, chief minister of Johor state, which lies next to the island city-state, said that ships using Malaysia's Pasir Gudang Port would incur extra costs because the reclamation work would narrow the approach route, requiring port personnel to act as pilots.
Ports in Malaysia and Singapore are currently locked in fierce competition for shipping business, with cheaper Malaysian ports taking customers away from Singapore.
Abdul Ghani said that the work around Singapore's Tekong island would halve the narrow Straits of Johor separating the two countries and leave a Malaysian naval training college 700 meters from reclaimed land. --AP
;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Thailand-Myanmar Police detain Thai couple in connection with deaths of 13 children JP/9/ASEAN
Thais arrested for deaths of 13 teens
THAILAND: Police have detained a Thai husband and wife in connection with the deaths of 13 teenagers from Myanmar believed to have entered Thailand illegally in search of work, officials said on Thursday.
Police Maj. Gen. Yongyudh Ngamkasem said Som Poonsombat and his wife, Boonta Phoomai, had been detained on suspicion of illegally trafficking the workers and being responsible for their deaths. He said the couple worked as employment agents for illegal migrants.
The children suffocated to death while being transported in the back of a truck from the Thai border province of Tak toward factories near Bangkok. They were hidden under containers of vegetables, Ngamkasem said.
The truck's driver discovered the tragedy during a stop in Nakorn Sawan province, some 210 kilometers north of Bangkok. --AP