■ China
Little hope for lost miners
Rescuers have little hope of finding 122 missing coal miners after weekend rains from Tropical Storm Sanvu forced a halt to search efforts in a flooded mine in southern China. The miners have been missing in the Daxing Coal Mine in Xingning, Guangdong Province, since water poured into the mine Aug. 7. The government has blamed the disaster on violations of safety rules. Rescuers have been pumping water out of the mine but say they have found no sign of the missing miners. Rains swept through the area during the weekend. "There is now almost no hope of finding the trapped miners alive," the China Daily said.
■ Indonesia
Hash lands Australian in jail
An Australian businessman was sentenced yesterday to five months' jail for hashish possession on Bali. Adelaide native John Pyle was detained in May after authorities found 1.8g of hashish at his Bali residence. Judge Nyoman Gede Wirya disregarded evidence that an Australian doctor was treating Pyle for drug addiction. Pyle's lawyer had argued that his client should be spared jail time because he was seeking medical help.
■ Japan
Corruption probe widens
A top bureaucrat was indicted yesterday in a widening probe into bid-rigging involving highway construction. Michio Uchida, vice president of state-run Japan Highway Public Corp, was charged with helping fix the bid for a bridge construction project. He was arrested last month as Japan investigates an alleged cartel of 45 companies arranging who would win highway projects. Prosecutors already indicted 26 companies and eight businesspeople on charges of violating the Anti-Monopoly Law in connection with highway bridge projects.
■ Hong Kong
Pork `not contaminated'
Chinese officials said yesterday they had recalled some pork in Shenzhen but tests showed it was not contaminated with a bacteria that has killed nearly 40 people in Sichuan Province. A pig-borne disease caused by the streptococcus suis bacteria has infected more than 200 people in Sichuan and killed 39 of them in recent weeks. Authorities recalled over 1,270kg of pork, which originated from Henan Province, from two Shenzhen markets on Saturday. Officials in Shenzhen posted notices at some housing estates promising refunds to residents who surrendered pork that they bought from the markets. Those who had consumed the meat were ordered to register their names, but were not told why. Although China has suspended exports of Sichuan pork to Hong Kong, sales of the meat have fallen markedly in the city, which gets most of its food from the mainland.
■ Philippines
Two wounded in clash
Two soldiers were wounded in fresh clashes with Moslem Abu Sayyaf rebels led by their chieftain Khadafi Janjalani in the southern Philippines. Army Colonel Franklin del Prado said the fighting erupted when patrolling troops encountered Janjalani's group in Talayan town. "We have dispatched more troops into the area to look for Janjalani," he said. Thousands of troops are already hunting down Janjalani, the elusive Abu Sayyaf chieftain, one of the most wanted criminals in the Philippines with a 10 million peso (US$178,571) bounty on his head. "It will be very hard to locate Janjalani's group because the area is thickly forested and the terrain is difficult," Del Prado said. The US has also offered up to US$5 million for his arrest.
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