PRESS DIGEST - Singapore newspapers - May 14

SINGAPORE, May 14 (Reuters) - The following are stories from Singapore newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

THE STRAITS TIMES

- A serial child molester who caught on as a parish volunteer was yesterday given two years' jail for abusing a young girl in a central-area church. The 38-year-old web designer, was also handed eight strokes of the cane for touching the nine-year-old's private parts.

- A former physiotherapist with Singapore General Hospital was sentenced to 15 months' jail and six strokes of the cane yesterday for molesting a patient. The 29-year-old was found guilty last month of outraging the modesty of a 31-year-old woman on Sept 9, 2005.

- Inflation is set to peak in the coming months before falling to 4 percent by the end of the year, said HSBC economist Robert Prior-Wandesforde yesterday. However, he expects overall inflation for the year to average 6 percent because of higher oil and food prices.

THE BUSINESS TIMES

- With aggressive marketing, Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research) has trumped the competition in the prepaid mobile phone market, the only growth segment in Singapore's mature phone market. Singapore's handphone subscriptions stands at 5.9 million, exceeding the 4.59 million population which gives a penetration rate of 129.1 percent.

- The race to snap up The Atrium @ Orchard has narrowed to two parties: a U.S. fund, and a unit of CapitaLand (CATL.SI: Quote, Profile, Research), possibly CapitaMall Trust CMLT.SI, which owns the Plaza Singapura mall. The price is understood to be in the region of S$2,200-S$2,300 ($1,606-$1,679) per square foot of net lettable area. Based on the property's total lettable area of around 370,000 sq ft (34,370 sq metre), the asset would be priced at over S$800 million.