PLANES COLLIDE ON INDONESIAN RUNWAY, NO CASUALTIES
JAKARTA: Two passenger planes collided at an airport in the Indonesian city of Medan on Thursday, an airline spokesman said, the latest incident to hit the country’s beleaguered aviation sector. A Boeing airplane operated by Lion Air was taxying along the runway after landing at Kualanamu airport on the island of Sumatra when it clipped the wing of a Wings Aircraft waiting to depart for Meulaboh in Aceh province. No one was injured in the incident and authorities are investigating the cause of the collision. Pictures on social media showed damage to the left wing of the Lion Air plane and the right wing of the Wings Air craft, which are both part of the Lion Group. “All passengers are in good condition, no one was injured. Both planes are now at the apron...” Andy Saladin, a spokesman for Lion Air said.
SARA NETANYAHU GRILLED IN FRAUD PROBE – MEDIA
JERUSALEM: Israeli police grilled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife for two hours on Wednesday ( Thursday in Manila) on suspicion that she diverted public money for private housekeeping expenses, local media said. The interrogation came as a new threat loomed over the premier in his own longrunning battle with corruption suspicions, as his former chief of staff reportedly considered an offer to turn state’s evidence. Israeli public radio said Sara Netanyahu was interrogated at National Fraud Squad headquarters near Tel Aviv over allegations she used public money for personal housekeeping expenses at the couple’s official and private residences. As during previous rounds of questioning of both the premier and his wife, police issued no statement on Sara Netanyahu’s questioning. But it was her husband’s tribulations that grabbed the front pages of all of Israel’s major dailies. They reported that justice officials were nearing a deal with his former chief of staff, Ari Harow, in which he would give evidence against his former boss in exchange for immunity from prosecution for his own acts.
CAMBODIA JAILS AUSTRALIAN NURSE OVER SURROGACY CLINIC
PHNOM PENH: An Australian nurse who ran surrogacy services in Cambodia that matched foreign couples with local women was sentenced to 18 months in prison Thursday, as authorities in the impoverished kingdom tackle the “rent- a- womb” businesses. Tammy Davis- Charles, 49, has been in custody since her arrest in November last year, weeks after Cambodia abruptly outlawed commercial surrogacy. Davis- Charles told the court she moved to Phnom Penh after commercial surrogacy was restricted in Thailand, where she had been working. The nurse said lawyers told her surrogacy was legal in Cambodia at the time. But the judge said Davis- Charles continued to run the business and lure Cambodian women into the trade even after she knew the industry had been outlawed. The Melbourne native, who wept after the verdict was handed down, was also convicted of falsifying documents. Two Cambodian colleagues were convicted of the same charges and also jailed for 18 months.