JAKARTA: Indonesian police shot dead a suspected militant and arrested two others, police said yesterday, in an ongoing clampdown on terrorism. Police from the counter-terrorism unit Detachment 88 shot dead Suardi after he resisted arrest and opened fire, national police spokesman Ronny Sompie said. Suardi, 50, was a former school teacher. The two other were identified as Ahmad Iswan and Jodi. Police also seized a pistol, a modified air gun, bullets and 2kg of fertiliser. All three were said to be part of a network led by Abu Uswah, who allegedly taught bomb-making and was shot dead in a raid in January. Police have linked the network with an attack on South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo in 2012, when militants threw a bomb at him that failed to explode.
Taiwan upholds jail for 5 judges
TAIPEI: Taiwan’s Supreme Court yesterday rejected the final appeals of five senior judges who were handed lengthy prison sentences for bribery. Former High Court judge Tsai Kuang-chih will have to serve a 20-year term and pay Tw$3.5m ($119,000) for taking bribes to meddle in two cases. In the first, his colleagues Chen Jung-ho and Li Chun-ti were sentenced to 18 years and 11-and-a-half years for taking Tw$3.5m in bribes through Tsai to acquit a former lawmaker in a land development case. The scandal, which broke out in 2010, brought down the chief of the judiciary Lai In-jaw, who resigned to take political responsiblity, and prompted President Ma Ying-jeou to set up an anti-corruption watchdog. In the second case, Tsai was convicted along with Fang A-sheng, a chief High Court judge, for taking Tw$3m from fellow judge Chang Ping-lung to clear him on corruption charges in 2005. Fang received a 10-and-a-half-year sentence while Chang was jailed for one year. Fang and Chang are in custody and Tsai, Chen and Li were freed pending their appeals.
Japan typhoon toll hits 24
OSHIMA: The Coastguard joined yesterday the search for the 27 people unaccounted for after a mountainside collapsed on the island of Oshima, 120km south of the Japanese capital, burying homes when Typhoon Wipha rolled through, as the death toll reached 24. Troops, firefighters and police continued search on land. Meanwhile, the body of one of two elementary schoolchildren believed to have been near a beach in Kanagawa when the storm hit has been found. The other child and a man in Chiba were still listed as missing. Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose urged rescue teams to do their utmost to find anyone still alive. “The 72-hour ‘golden rescue period’ is going to be over soon,” he said, referring to the time after which it is thought survival is unlikely.
Four die in China coal mine blast
Beijing: Four people were confirmed dead after a coal mine blast on Thursday afternoon in southwest China’s Guizhou Province, authorities said yesterday. The accident happened at 4.15pm at the Zheyan Coal Mine in Gaoshi Township in the city of Fuquan when 49 people were working underground. Forty-five people escaped while four were trapped in the shaft. Rescue work continued until the bodies were recovered early yesterday. An investigation has been launched. Agencies
