Disabled man had to crawl to plane

Tokyo: A Japanese budget airline apologised for forcing a wheelchair-bound man to crawl up a set of stairs to board his flight. Hideto Kijima, 44, was returning earlier this month to Osaka from a vacation in Amami, a small island off southern Japan, when a Vanilla Air employee told him that company safety rules banned anyone from carrying him up the stairs. The carrier did not have a lift at the small airport to move disabled passengers from the tarmac up to the jet’s door. — AFP

PHNOM PENH: Wildlife researchers in Cambodia say they’ve found a clutch of eggs from one of the world’s most endangered crocodiles, raising hopes of its continuing survival in the wild. The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said in a statement yesterday that its researchers, along with Fisheries Administration employees and local residents, found six eggs of the Siamese Crocodile in Sre Ambel District in the province of Koh Kong. — AP