COLOMBO: An English politician yesterday urged Britain’s Queen Elizabeth to boycott the Commonwealth summit in Colombo later this year to protest against Sri Lanka’s failure to prosecute the killers of a British tourist in 2011. MP Simon Danczuk said his constituent, Khuram Sheikh, was gunned down on Christmas day in 2011, but there was no progress in the case.
26 generations of mouse cloned
TOKYO: Japanese scientists have produced 26 generations of clones from one mouse, the lead researcher said yesterday, possibly paving the way for the mass replication of valuable livestock. The team have produced 598 mice — genetic copies of one creature in an experiment that has been going for seven years, said Teruhiko Wakayama of the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology.
Prosecutor sued for taking bribes
TAIPEI: A Taiwanese prosecutor was indicted yesterday on corruption charges for allegedly taking bribes to cover up gambling businesses, in the latest scandal to hit the island’s judiciary. Chen Yu-chen, a mid-level staff member of the High Prosecutors’ Office, was charged with accepting nearly Tw$24m ($827,000) from a gambling business operator over six years, the Special Investigation Division said.
HK tycoons plead not guilty in scam
Hong Kong: Hong Kong billionaire brothers Thomas and Raymond Kwok, two of Asia’s wealthiest men, pleaded not guilty to corruption charges yesterday in the southern Chinese city’s biggest graft case. The brothers, who chair developer giant Sun Hung Kai Properties, and Hong Kong’s former chief secretary Rafael Hui were charged in a swoop by the anti-graft watchdog in July. They were accused of bribing Hui, who held the government’s second-highest position.
Dalai Lama behind ‘self-immolations’
BEIJING: China accused exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama yesterday of providing money to encourage people to set themselves on fire, and said they had evidence to prove the Nobel Peace Prize laureate was instigating self-immolations. More than 100 Tibetans have set themselves alight in protest against Chinese rule since 2009. Most have died. “Self-immolation is immoral and inhumane behaviour,” Padma Choling, the Chinese appointed head of Tibet’s rubber stamp legislature, said.
Suu Kyi’s party meets over poll
YANGON: Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition opened a historic conference yesterday seen as a key chance to revitalise the popular but inexperienced party, which faces major challenges ahead of elections in 2015. The Nobel laureate’s National League for Democracy has been urged to enlist the help of outside experts and inject new blood into top ranks.
Tripartite free
trade talks set
Seoul: South Korean trade ministry said it is preparing for the first round of free trade talks among South Korea, China and Japan later this month in Seoul. Radio Korea said the countries announced the start of talks in November 2012 where they agreed to hold three rounds this year. Agencies
