TAIPEI: Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang party yesterday suspended the membership of Lai Su-ju, a confidante of the island’s president, for her alleged involvement in a corruption scandal. President Ma Ying-jeou, who rose to power on an anti-corruption platform, apologised last week after Lai, a member of Taipei City Council, was implicated in graft allegations over a $2.34bn construction project in the capital. She was detained on Saturday on the grounds that she could collude with witnesses and other suspects to cover up the alleged crime.
Carter’s plea to Nepal Maoists
KATHMANDU: Former US president Jimmy Carter yesterday urged a hardline Maoist faction in Nepal to renounce violence in the run-up to general election in coming months. Carter, 88, met leaders of major parties during a four-day visit and said he was assured by Mohan Baidya, leader of a splinter Maoist faction, that they would not resort to violence.
Manila says ‘no’ to short cops
MANILA: Short people hoping to join the long arm of the law in the Philippines will be left disappointed after President Benigno Aquino vetoed a bill removing height requirements for police yesterday. Parliament had passed a bill repealing minimum height requirements for police, fire and jail personnel, but Aquino felt that some jobs required people of a certain stature, his spokeswoman Abigail Valte said. The minimum height of five feet, four inches for men and five feet, two inches for women applying for these jobs would still apply, she added.
16 feared killed by Bangla pirates
DHAKA: Pirates in southeastern Bangladesh are believed to have killed at least 16 fishermen by tying them up and throwing them into the Bay of Bengal to drown, police said yesterday. A fishing boat was recovered at Kutubdia Island in Cox’s Bazaar resort district and 16 bodies were found floating in the sea. The pirates were thought to have killed the fishermen to steal the engine, fishing nets and their catch.
Japanese, 80, to scale Everest
KATHMANDU: An 80-year-old Japanese mountain climber, who has had heart surgery four times, is heading to Mount Everest to try for a third ascent of the highest peak and will become the oldest person to reach the top if he succeeds. Yuichiro Miura climbed the 8,850-metre peak in 2003 and 2008. He skied down Everest from an altitude of 8,000 metres in 1970. He and a nine-person team will climb the standard southeast ridge route, pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay who became the first people to reach the summit in May 1953.
HIV cases up among students
Beijing: The number of Chinese students infected with HIV increased by 24.5 percent year-on-year in 2012, a senior health expert said. A total of 1,700 were infected with HIV last year, Yu Jingjin, Director of the Bureau of Disease Control and Prevention under the National Health and Family Planning Commission, was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying. Agencies
