10  theSun | WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 28 2009

news without borders

Pilots on wayward jetliner were using laptops

WASHINGTON: Pilots of a Northwest
Airlines jetliner that overshot its des-
tination by 240km last week told US
investigators they became distracted
during an extended discussion of
crew scheduling that included their
use of personal laptops, officials said
on Monday.
“The pilots said there was a con-
centrated period of discussion where
they did not monitor the airplane or
calls from air traffic controllers even
though both stated they heard con-
versation on the radio,” the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
said after interviewing the pair.
“Both said they lost track of time,”
the safety board said in a report on
their investigation, which included
disclosures about the nature of the
conversation and the use of laptop
computers.
The two veteran commercial pilots
said they were not fatigued during
the evening flight on the Oct 21 from
San Diego to Minneapolis, countering
speculation they may have fallen
asleep.
Air controllers and airline dispatch-
ers sought to contact Flight 188, an
Airbus A320 with 144 passengers, for
more than an hour with the plane at
37,000 feet.
Neither pilot was aware of the
plane’s wayward state until a flight
attendant asked them about their
scheduled arrival time, the NTSB said.
The captain looked at his flight
display data, realised the mistake and
then contacted controllers for permis-
sion to turn around. The plane landed
without incident in Minneapolis.
Delta Air Lines , which owns North-
west, has relieved the pilots from
active flying pending the outcome of
government and internal investiga-
tions.
The use of personal laptops violates
company policy, the safety board said.
– Reuters

Indonesia not a
refugee ‘dumping
ground’: Governor
TANJUNG PINANG (Indonesia):
An Indonesian provincial governor
refused yesterday to allow an Aus-
tralian customs vessel to unload 78
Sri Lankan asylum-seekers, saying
Indonesia is not a “dumping ground”
for refugees.
Opposition to the arrival of the
migrants came as Australia stressed
it was not trying to push asylum-
seekers back onto Indonesia, the
main transit country for migrants
hoping to reach Australia by boat.
Indonesia agreed to take the Sri
Lankans on humanitarian grounds
week but was diverted about 900km
north to Kijang, near Singapore.
Indonesian officials have visited
the Oceanic Viking and Australian
seamen could be seen distributing
food to the Sri Lankans, according
to a reporter who went to the area
by boat. An Indonesian navy warship
kept vigil about 500m away.
Asked how they were feeling,
some of the Sri Lankans shouted
back that they were “fine”. They said
they had fled Sri Lanka’s war-torn
Jaffna region six months ago.
Indonesian officials have been un-
Citizen
FBI rescues 52 kids
Nades:
Say ‘Tak
Nak’ to
‘tennis
segera’
from prostitution
WASHINGTON: US authorities and the arrest of close to 700 oth- assistant director of the FBI’s
pg 12 rescued 52 children, including ers, “including 60 pimps, on state Criminal Investigative Division.
one as young as 10, from prosti- and local charges,” the Federal The roundup, which officials
tution rings and arrested nearly Bureau of Investigation said. said took place over the previous
700 people during a nationwide “Child prostitution continues 72 hours, was part of a larger FBI
sting operation over the week- to be a significant problem in programme called “Innocence
end, the FBI said on Monday. our country, as evidenced by Lost,” whose task forces have
The three-day push in 36 the number of children rescued removed nearly 900 children
US cities “led to the recovery through the continued efforts from the streets since 2003,
of 52 children who were being of our crimes-against-children convicted 510 people and seized
victimised through prostitution” task forces,” said Kevin Perkins, US$3.1 million (RM10.6 million)
in assets, the FBI said.
AFP

after the Australian navy rescued
them off the Indonesian island of
Sumatra last week.
But the governor of Riau Islands
province, where the migrants are ex-
pected to be housed in a detention
centre while their refugee claims are
processed, said they were Australia’s
problem.
“We ban the Australian vessel
carrying 78 Sri Lankan migrants
from coming ashore at Kijang port,”
Governor Ismeth Abdullah said.
“Unless there’s an order from
the president, the ship cannot come
ashore. We’re not a dumping ground
for other countries.”
The migrants are currently
aboard an Australian customs boat,
the Oceanic Viking, which has been
anchored about 14km off the Riau
port of Kijang since Monday morn-
ing.
It had been scheduled to drop
them at Merak, western Java, last
able to explain why the Sri Lankans Agents targeted truck stops,
have not disembarked, while others casinos, street corners and
openly opposed their landing. websites as part of their hunt for
“Our position is we reject the offenders.
boat. Why must Indonesia accept “They target areas known to
a boat that was picked up by Aus- carry out prostitution,” said FBI
tralia?” provincial justice and human special agent Jason Pack. “When
rights official I Gde Widiartha said. they find young looking ones
The migrants are the first test of a they try to find ways to engage
“framework agreement” on asylum- the folks and go from there,” he
seekers announced by Indonesia and said.
Australia last week, amid a sharp The youngest person taken
increase in boat arrivals to Australia off the street was a 10-year-old
this year. girl in the midwestern United
Under the framework agreement, States. The other 51 were mostly
Australia has reportedly offered females under age 18, he said.
millions of dollars to help Indonesia The FBI said initial arrests for
accommodate asylum-seekers in ex- solicitation typically uncovered
change for greater efforts to prevent larger, more organised efforts to
their departure for Australia and prostitute women and children
disrupt smugglers. But the so-called across the United States.
“Indonesian Solution” is already un- “It is repugnant that children
der fire over reports of overcrowding in these times could be subjected
and abuse in Indonesian detention to the great pain, suffering, and
centres. – AFP indignity of being forced into
sexual slavery for someone
else’s profit,” said Assistant At-
torney-General Lanny Breuer of
Eye-catching... the Criminal Division.
EMPLOYEES of Japanese eyewear maker Volks display toy sunglasses designed with a The roundup however “has
“2010” logo to celebrate next year at the annual International Optical Fair Tokyo (IOFT shown us that the scourge of
2009) on Oct 27, 2009. Over 500 Japanese and foreign optical makers are to exhibit their child prostitution still exists on
latest products at Asia’s largest eyewear trade show on Oct 27-29. the streets of our cities.” – AFP

said in a statement on Monday. Father Pedestrian wins suit

briefs
8 US soldiers killed in
Afghan bomb attacks
KABUL: Eight US troopers were killed
in bomb attacks in southern Afghani-
stan yesterday ahead of a run-off
presidential election, the NATO-led
alliance said, in the deadliest month
for US troops since the start of the
war eight years ago.
The mounting violence comes at a
time when President Barack Obama is
weighing up his options on whether
to send more troops to Afghanistan
to fight a Taliban insurgency that is at
its fiercest since 2001. – Reuters
Priest suspended over
transsexual marriage
ROME: An Italian priest who blessed the
marriage of a 64-year-old transsexual to
her 58-year-old male partner has been
suspended, the Archbishop of Florence
Alessandro Santoro, a priest based in
Piagge, a suburb of Florence, married San-
dra Alvino – who underwent a sex change
more than 30 years ago – and Fortunato
Talotta in a ceremony on Sunday. Florence
archbishop Giuseppe Betori said he had
invited Santoro to take time off for “reflec-
tion and prayer” after he ignored protests
from the Catholic Church. – AFP
Australia opposes
release of surgeon’s killer
SYDNEY: Australian government of-
ficials responded to public anger yes-
terday by opposing the release of the
Malaysian killer of world-renowned
heart transplant surgeon Victor Chang.
New South Wales Corrective Services
Minister John Robertson said he would
try to have next month’s release of
Phillip Lim Choon Tee blocked. Lim is
shortly to end his minimum 18-year jail
sentence, after which he is likely to be
deported to Malaysia. Chang, 54, was
shot dead in a bungled extortion bid by
Lim and Australian national Liew Chew
Seng in 1991. – dpa
after falling into pothole
TAIPEI: A woman has been awarded
T$81,000 (RM8,550) in compensation
for injury caused by a pothole in front
of the presidential office in Taipei, a
newspaper reported yesterday. Hu
Chin-chuan, a Bank of Taiwan clerk, was
walking to work on April 29, 2008, when
she stepped into a 10-by-10cm pothole
on Chunking South Road, about 100m
from the Presidential Office Building in
Taipei, the Liberty Times said. – dpa
Parents lynch bookseller
over abduction fear
BEIJING: Angry parents lynched a
book salesman and badly injured
four of his colleagues after rumours
spread that the men were part of a
human smuggling ring, the official
Xinhua agency said on Monday. The
attack at the Chumen Primary school,
in eastern Zhejiang province, occurred
early morning as the group handed
out leaflets about a lecture to be given
nearby, the agency said. – Reuters