■SINGAPORE
Woman convicted of abuse
A court has convicted a woman of abusing her Indonesian maid by scalding the helper’s genitals with boiling water, helping to pull out her teeth, hitting her with a metal rod and threatening to kill her, the Straits Times reported yesterday. Maselly Ab Aziz, 38, is due to be sentenced on Wednesday, the paper said. Her two children and lover had already been jailed for their part in abusing the 30-year-old maid Badingah in 2007. Maselly told the court that she would appeal her conviction. She claimed Badingah’s injuries were self-inflicted.
■SINGAPORE
Protesters jailed over fire
A court convicted seven protesters on Wednesday for throwing firebombs at police, sparking a blaze that killed six people, including a policeman. Two were sentenced to six years in prison, five were given five-year terms and two others received suspended jail sentences. They were found guilty of staging violent protests with firebombs in January when police raided a Seoul building scheduled for demolition but occupied by dozens of protesters. Opposition lawmakers and other critics accused police of using excessive force in the raid. But prosecutors concluded the police were not directly responsible for the fire.
■NEW ZEALAND
Minister sculpted in dung
Artist Sam Mahon has sculpted the head of Environment Minister Nick Smith out of cow dung as part of a conservation protest. The Canterbury sculptor filled a cast with cow dung and then gave it a bronze-like finish. Mahon said yesterday he was upset about plans to dam a local river and the pollution of waterways by effluent from dairy farms. Smith described the protest as “a bit of a laugh ... Though I’d also say, excuse the pun, I’d call it ‘crap art.’”
■SPAIN
Doctor saves woman on bus
A woman yesterday found her “guardian angel” — the stranger who saved her life after approaching her on a bus to say she was probably suffering from a rare disease. Montse Ventura, 55, said a woman sitting opposite her on a Barcelona bus nine months ago saved her life by telling her to have tests for acromegaly — a disorder resulting from an excess of growth hormone. She had no idea what the woman was talking about, but accepted a piece of paper where the woman had written down the names of two clinical tests. “She wrote something down and said ‘Have the analysis done as soon as possible,’” Ventura said. The test results rang alarm bells. “I had more tests done and they ended up operating on a tumor.” The operation was successful. On Tuesday, a 60-year-old endocrinologist rang La Vanguardia newspaper to say she had made the diagnosis after seeing Ventura’s unusually shaped hands. Ventura and her guardian angel have spoken by phone and will meet when the media fuss in Spain dies down.
■INDIA
Body found at police station
The corpse of a man has been found on the roof of a police station, where it was placed more than two years ago during an inquiry, a report said on Wednesday. The body of Chukkan Nishad, a 22-year-old who went missing in 2007, was meant to be sent for DNA testing but was instead put in a body bag and placed on the roof, the Mail Today newspaper said. The newspaper said the family kept requesting the body but were told there was an investigation under way. “I admit it is a horrible case, possibly the first of its kind,” said Ram Sabad Ram, the new station master in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. The body was placed there after authorities refused to release funds for the DNA test on Nishad.
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