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

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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

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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

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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