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Police squad kills
seven militants
INDONESIA: The police antiterror squad has killed seven suspected militants in recent days,
triggering renewed allegations
the force is not trying to take suspects alive — a trend that appears to be fuelling the very extremism the predominantly Muslim
country is trying to counter.
Police spokesman Brigadier
General Boy Rafli Amar said no
shots were fired against officers
during three related raids on Friday and Saturday in eastern Indonesia, but the suspects in at
least one of the locations had explosives that were ‘‘ready’’ to
be detonated.
He said officers from the anti-
terror squad, known as Densus 88,
had followed procedures because
the suspects were endangering
their lives, but gave few details.
Haris Azhar, chairman of the
Commission for Missing Persons
and Victims of Violence, an independent human rights group, said
it appeared the suspected militants were victims of ‘‘extrajudicial killings’’ and called for an
independent investigation.
‘‘I’m worried about the deteriorating public sympathy for police
who continue to use violence,’’ he
said, alleging some suspects in the
past have been shot in front of
their children. ‘‘There has never
been any evaluation of Densus’s
actions. It seems the police brutality has contributed to the growing of terrorism,’’ he said.
Densus 88 was established after
the 2002 Bali bombings with
American and Australian financial and technical assistance,
which it still receives.
It has been instrumental in the
arrests of hundreds of militants
over the past 10 years and is
credited with reducing the threat
of further attacks on Western interests. Small groups of militants,
however, have continued to attack police officers and Christians. Since the squad’s establishment, Densus officers have killed
more than 70 suspects.
Revellers parade during the Devil’s Carnival in Colombia, a biennial event where tens of thousands of
visitors descend on the small town of Riosucio to celebrate music and folk dance Picture: FREDY AMARILES/AFP
AUCKLAND: An expletive-laden
Robin Williams comedy sketch has
mistakenly hit the early morning
airwaves in New Zealand.
Williams’ sketch about childhood
aired on the Summer Mornings
program just after 6.30am yesterday. Throughout, Williams says
‘‘f---’’ on several occasions, as well
as ‘‘bulls---’’.
LAST WISH GRANTED
US: An avid Star Trek fan who was
granted his wish to see the latest
instalment in the franchise has
died shortly after watching the
unfinished Into Darkness movie.
A friend posted a plea to see the
coming film on behalf of Daniel
Craft, 41, on internet social media
site Reddit about a week ago. The
message quickly made its way to
director J.J. Abrams, who granted
him access to an early draft.
It isn’t due to be released in cinemas until May.
SEVEN DECADES APART
SARAJEVO: Two Bosnian sisters
who lost track of each other almost 72 years ago met for the first
time with the help of Facebook,
local media reported.
Tanija Delic, 88, and Hedija Talic,
82, had not seen each other since
1941. Talic, aged 11 at the time,
got separated from her family
while they were fleeing their village at the start of World War II.
www.ntnews.com.au
Island dispute
Big squid film
TOKYO: Four Chinese government ships have entered territorial waters around Japancontrolled islands at the centre
of a dispute, the Japanese coastguard says.
The four marine surveillance
ships were seen on Monday
moving within 12 nautical
miles of the islands, known as
the Senkakus in Japan and the
Diaoyus in China, just before
midday, the coastguard said.
It was the first time since December 31 that a Chinese ship
has been seen there.
TOKYO: Scientists and broadcasters in Japan say they have
captured footage of an elusive
giant squid up to 8m long that
roams the depths of the Pacific Ocean.
Japan’s National Science Museum filmed the deep-sea creature in its natural habitat for
the first time, working with Japanese public broadcaster NHK
and the US Discovery Channel.
They spotted the squid at a
depth of 630m using a submersible in July, some 15km east of
Chichi island.
Life in peril from baby’s nail
UK: A woman has almost died after a fingernail or hair from one
of her twins passed into her
bloodstream during their birth.
Born five weeks premature,
twins Amelie and Ava only just
made it into this world after being resuscitated with oxygen.
But they’re not the only ones
who are lucky to be alive.
Their mother Angela Cottam
almost died after a fingernail or
hair passed into her blood.
The rare condition — which affects only one in 80,000 births —
caused 32-year-old Mrs Cottam to
suffer severe internal bleeding
and her lungs collapsed.
The primary school teacher
lost seven pints of blood, needed
22 transfusions and spent 12
hours in a coma, when her family
was told she might not survive.
Mrs Cottam, who is married to
Peter, 33, said: ‘‘I feel so lucky to
be here and really blessed that
both the girls are with us because
it could have been so different.
‘‘(I) just thank my lucky stars
the doctors and midwives on
duty that day recognised what
was happening.’’
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Tuesday, January 8, 2013. NT NEWS.
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