Asia Briefs: Taiwan crash: Air traffic controllers charged

Taiwan crash: Air traffic controllers charged

TAIPEI • Taiwan has charged two air traffic control officers with causing a TransAsia Airways crash that killed at least 48 people in 2014 - the first prosecutions in its worst air disaster in a decade.

The plane's two pilots, who died in the July 23 crash, were also blamed for flying Flight GE222 into a residential area as the aircraft tried to land, during a typhoon, at Magong city airport in Penghu islands.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


Death penalty for tomb-raiding gang boss

BEIJING • The head of China's most prolific tomb-raiding gang was on Thursday sentenced to death with a two- year reprieve, a rare severe punishment which analysts hope will serve as a warning.

Ringleader Yao Yuzhong, from Chifeng in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was found guilty of several offences including tomb raiding, looting and selling stolen antiquities, reported China's state-run Global Times newspaper yesterday. Altogether, 22 gang members received prison terms of varying lengths. Three received life sentences.


India's e-trading portal for farmers launched

NEW DELHI • India launched its first electronic trading portal on Thursday, allowing farmers to sell their goods across the country in a move aimed at boosting struggling growers' livelihoods and the rural economy.

The National Agriculture Market will allow farmers to monitor the cost of commodities, gauge demand and gain easier access to markets in other parts of the nation, which will eliminate middlemen.

"This will empower the farmers who can now decide when, where and at what cost they want to sell their produce in any part of the country," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the launch.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on April 16, 2016, with the headline Asia Briefs: Taiwan crash: Air traffic controllers charged. Subscribe