TOKYO – Japanese fair trade regulators raided last month the offices of Airbnb Inc over suspected violations of antitrust laws, the home rental site said on Friday, denying any wrongdoing.

The Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) carried out an on-site inspection of Airbnb and the company is cooperating with the regulators’ investigation, Airbnb Japan said.

A JFTC spokesman declined to comment.

Regulators seized documents from Airbnb in Tokyo on suspicion that it broke antitrust rules by asking users not to list properties on rival sites, according to the Nikkei business daily.

“All hosts and partners in Japan who list properties on Airbnb are able to list them on other platforms, and we will work with the JFTC to address any questions they may have,” a Singapore-based Airbnb spokesman said.

The Nikkei said that Airbnb forced some users to sign contracts promising not to use other sites. The Airbnb spokesman said this was not the case.

Airbnb competes with hotels and other traditional forms of lodging from bed and breakfasts to holiday lets by helping people rent out their homes or apartments, either in full or as part of a house-share.

But as with its taxi-hailing peer Uber Technologies Inc , Airbnb’s rise has seen a growing crackdown by legislators in cities such as Amsterdam and Barcelona.

The hotel industry sees Airbnb and other services as providing unfair competition, while community groups have criticised the site for driving up property prices and contributing to housing shortages as landlords buy to let.

In Japan, a scarcity of hotel rooms in metropolitan areas and record numbers of tourists have presented an opportunity for short-term rental providers such as Airbnb ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games.

But community worries about noise and safety, along with opposition from hotels and traditional “ryokan” inns, have presented obstacles to efforts to loosen regulations on short-term rentals.

In June, Japan passed a law allowing people to rent out their homes for up to 180 days, after registering with the authorities.

Airbnb said five million people had used its service in Japan – its most popular destination in Asia – in the last twelve months.

JAKARTA/TIMIKA, Indonesia – Indonesia on Friday began evacuating villages that authorities said had been occupied by armed separatists after a string of shootings near the giant Grasberg copper mine operated by Freeport McMoRan Inc in the eastern province of Papua.

Two police have been killed and at least 12 people have been wounded by gunfire in the area since mid-August. Police have blamed an “armed criminal group”, but others have said the gunmen were linked to separatist rebels.

According to police reports, the armed group occupied the villages of Banti and Kimbely near the mining town of Tembagapura, and had prevented an estimated 1,300 residents from leaving the area, leading to food shortages.

Police and military leaders said they have urged the gunmen to surrender, but have also warned that tough measures could follow if their “persuasive” approach fails.

Residents were being evacuated to a sports hall in Tembagapura, according to a source at Freeport.

Mimika Deputy Regent Yohanes Bassang asked families in Timika to accommodate relatives being evacuated from the villages “to avoid further problems”.

Bassang said many of the villagers were from the east Indonesian island of Sulawesi and had come to the area to pan for gold.

The separatist West Papua National Liberation Army (TPN-OPM), a group linked to the Free Papua Movement, has claimed responsibility for the shootings and declared war against the military, police and Freeport, but denied it was holding villagers hostage.

According to several residents interviewed by Reuters, military and police officers were preventing them from getting food from Tembagapura, where food aid was delivered in a cargo container on Saturday.

“The atmosphere has really heated up,” one resident said, referring to the shootings and concerns over food supplies and safety.

New Delhi – The Delhi half marathon is to go ahead on Sunday despite dire health warnings from doctors after a court in the heavily polluted city refused to order a delay.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) had asked the Delhi High Court to postpone the event after a spike in pollution levels that it described as a public health emergency.

But on Thursday the court said it was satisfied by the organisers’ reassurances that they were doing everything they could to mitigate concerns.

That includes spraying the course with water to keep dust levels down and having ambulances and medical stations staffed with doctors and nurses on hand.

Around 35,000 people are expected to take part in Sunday’s race, which comes after more than a week of hazardous pollution levels that forced the government to close schools for several days.

Most are amateur runners, but among them are a handful of world-class athletes including Kenya’s Geoffrey Kipkorir Kirui, winner of this year’s men’s world marathon in London.

The head of the IMA K.K Aggarwal said they had wanted to raise awareness of the dangers of running in heavy pollution.

“We will have to fight for our right to get cleaner air. Only such public efforts can help bring down the pollution,” Aggarwal told AFP.

The Association says running in severe pollution can trigger asthma attacks, worsen lung conditions and increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Last week telecoms giant Airtel threatened to pull its sponsorship of the event if authorities in Delhi failed to act to improve the city’s air quality.

A 2014 World Health Organisation survey found Delhi was the world’s most polluted capital, with air quality even worse than Beijing.

Pollution regularly spikes across north India and Pakistan at this time of year as farmers burn the post-harvest crop stubble and cooler temperatures prevent pollutants from dispersing.

Jakarta – Smugglers who allegedly stuffed 125 exotic birds into drain pipes have been arrested in Indonesia, officials said Thursday, as part of a bid to clamp down on a lucrative illegal trade in wildlife.

Four men have been charged after 41 endangered white cockatoos and 84 eclectus parrots were discovered squashed into plastic piping that had been cut and sealed at each end by wire.

Police said the men were arrested in four separate locations in eastern Indonesia, and are part of a suspected wildlife trafficking ring.

They face a maximum five years in prison and 100 million Rupiah ($7,400) fine if found guilty.

The vast jungles of Indonesia are home to 131 threatened bird species, according to wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC, more than any other country except Brazil.

But there is also large-scale illegal trading of birds, which sees them sold in giant avian markets in Indonesia’s major cities, or smuggled abroad.

Exotic birds are usually poached and trafficked by smuggling gangs for sale as pets and as status symbols.

The Philippines may have been the destination for the birds found on Monday because the suspects are linked to “a parrot smuggling network there”, said Dwi Adhiasto of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which works with Indonesian authorities to halt such crime.

White cockatoos, which are native to the remote North Maluku province, are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Their global population is estimated to be between 43,000 and 183,000, IUCN says, but is in decline because of poaching, trafficking and habitat loss.

JAKARTA – Named as a suspect in a $170 million (S$230 million) corruption case, the speaker of Indonesia’s parliament was put under armed guard at a hospital by anti-graft investigators after he was involved in a car accident, his lawyer said on Friday.

Officers from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) first tried to arrest Setya Novanto, the chairman of Golkar, Indonesia’s second-largest party and partner in the ruling coalition, at his house in Jakarta late on Wednesday.

The swoop, watched by television cameras, failed to find Novanto, sparking speculation that he had gone into hiding.

On Thursday evening, the saga took a bizarre twist after reports Novanto was involved in a car crash while on his way to turn himself in at KPK headquarters.

Novanto’s lawyer, Fredrich Yunadi, said his client was being interviewed at the time of the accident by a journalist driving the vehicle.

“(The driver) was looking back and looking to the side, so he wasn’t concentrating on what was in front of him,” he said.

Novanto was now “very ill” with head and hand injuries, Yunadi said.

“He can’t even get up yet. He can’t talk yet, it’s just his eyes – when he opens his eyes the ceiling swirls in circles.” Armed KPK officers were now at the hospital, Yunadi said, adding that they had ignored his requests to leave.

Indonesian newspapers on Friday splashed pictures across their front pages of the black sport utility vehicle that Novanto was said to have been travelling in. It was resting against an electricity pole, and appeared to have suffered only minor damage to the front fender.

Novanto has previously denied wrongdoing, but has repeatedly missed summonses from the KPK for questioning in recent months, saying he was ill and needed to undergo heart surgery.

The KPK is investigating state losses amounting to about $170 million linked to a national electronic identity card (E-KTP) scheme after allegations that sums ranging from $5,000 to $5.5 million – generated by marking up procurement costs- were divided up among politicians in parliament.

Novanto was named a suspect in the case again last week after he had used a controversial legal manoeuvre, a pre-trial motion, to get earlier charges dropped last month.

Febri Diansyah, a KPK spokesman, said on Thursday that Novanto’s car crash happened shortly after it had asked the Indonesian police chief and Interpol to place him on a wanted list.

The KPK, Febri told Inews TV, would liaise with doctors to see if Novanto was “fit to stand trial” and vowed to continue its investigations into the case.

Yunadi has said a request for another pre-trial motion had already been filed on behalf of his client.

President Joko Widodo has said that the legal process should be followed and has backed the KPK against efforts by some members of parliament to weaken the independent agency’s powers.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is also a Golkar member, told reporters on Thursday that Novanto should be ready to face any legal process if called upon.

Allegations of corruptions have dogged Novanto for years, but he has never been prosecuted.

Indonesians widely perceive parliament as one of their country’s most corrupt institutions, Transparency International says.

Seoul – Two former heads of South Korea’s spy agency were arrested Friday on suspicion of paying bribes to aides of ousted ex-president Park Geun-Hye, as a sweeping corruption scandal rocks the country’s political and business elite.

Nam Jae-Joon and Lee Byung-Kee, ex-heads of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), were arrested for allegedly handing a total of 4 billion won ($3.63 million) of their agency’s budget to Park’s aides in monthly payments in exchange for career advancement.

The Seoul Central District Court approved the arrest warrants on the two, citing flight risk or the to destroy evidence.

Former South Korean leader Park was toppled this year and is in jail while on a trial over accusations of graft and influence-peddling.

Nam and Lee, who respectively served under Park from 2013 to 2015, face charges including embezzlement, bribery and causing losses on state coffers.

The pair reportedly told prosecutors that they had offered the “monthly payment” to Park’s office at the personal request of Park’s key aides.

Two former key aides to Park were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of squeezing the money from the NIS and reportedly told investigators they had done so at the president’s order.

South Korea’s spy agency has already been at the centre of accusations that it abused its power to meddle in local politics under two former conservative presidents.

A former senior NIS official was detained last month for allegedly leading a string of operations to monitor and undermine high-profile figures and celebrities critical of Park and her predecessor.

Ex-spy chief, Won Sei-Hoon, was jailed for three years in August for ordering NIS officials to mount an online smear campaign against Park’s key rival in the 2012 presidential candidate.

The closely-fought election saw Park defeat Moon Jae-In from the left-leaning opposition party.

Moon was elected earlier this year after Park’s impeachment over the corruption scandal that also implicated the country’s top business group, Samsung.

Park is accused of offering policy favours to business tycoons who helped enrich her secret confidante, Choi Soon-Sil, as well as allowing her friend, who had no title or security clearance, handle state affairs including senior nominations.

Both Park and Choi are in prison while on trial over charges including bribery and abuse of power.

Samsung heir Lee Jae-Yong is also in jail, appealing against his five-year prison term over bribery and perjury.