COLOMBO: Sri Lanka began counting the dead from its 26-year civil war on Thursday, less than two weeks after it came under international pressure to investigate allegations of war crimes during the climax of the conflict. Some 16,000 officials will spread out across the country in a major operation that the government said would take six months to complete. More than 100,000 people are believed to have died during the 1983-2009 war between Tamil Tiger separatists concentrated in the north and government forces.
Aquino ally in graft case
MANILA: Philippine investigators recommended criminal charges yesterday against the country’s customs chief, the first political ally of President Benigno Aquino to be implicated in a widening corruption scandal. Customs Commissioner Rozzano Biazon and seven fellow former members of the House of Representatives were accused of taking part in a complex scam lasting many years to syphon off P10bn ($230m) in government funds. The National Bureau of Investigation accused Biazon of taking P1.95m in kickbacks to allow the diversion of money from the Priority Development Assistance Fund, intended for infrastructure projects in the legislators’ districts.
Abe appoints female aide
TOKYO: Japan’s Shinzo Abe yesterday named the country’s first female aide to the prime minister, weeks after Caroline Kennedy arrived as the first woman US Ambassador to Japan. Makiko Yamada, a 53-year-old internal ministry veteran, will advise Abe on policies affecting women, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. “The government regards promotion of women in society as a key pillar for our growth policies. The prime minister had been thinking about naming a woman a prime ministerial aide. Now that Ambassador Kennedy has arrived, it seems things have come together.”
Agencies
