UN DISTANCES ITSELF FROM BAN RELATIVES CORRUPTION SCANDAL
UNITED NATIONS: Corruption charges against former UN secretary general Ban Ki- moon do not concern the United Nations, the UN spokesman said Wednesday. Ban’s brother and nephew, respectively Ban Ki Sang and Joo Hyun Bahn, have been indicted in a US court over an alleged attempt to bribe a Middle Eastern official regarding the sale of a building in Vietnam. A 39- page indictment unsealed on Tuesday lists charges of corruption, money laundering and conspiracy against the relatives of the former UN chief, who stepped down on December 31. “The indictment that was unsealed yesterday is not one that concerns the United Nations, and I have no comment on it,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
RELATIVE GUILTY OF CHINESE-AUSTRALIAN FAMILY HAMMER MURDER
SYDNEY: A former surgeon was found guilty of murdering five members of a ChineseAustralian family, including two children here. Robert Xie, 53, was charged with killing his Chinese-born brother-in-law Norman Lin, Lin’s wife Lily, their sons Henry, 12, and Terry, 9, and Lily’s sister Irene. Their bodies were found in their northwestern Sydney home in July 2009. The long-running case saw Xie—an ear, nose and throat surgeon in China before moving to Australia in 2002—face four murder trials. Two were aborted, one ended in a hung jury and the most recent retrial lasted six months.Xie was found guilty by the majority of a New South Wales Supreme Court jury, and will be sentenced on February 10, a court official told AFP.
AMAZON REMOVES INDIA FLAG DOORMATS AFTER VISA THREAT
NEW DELHI: Amazon said Thursday it has withdrawn doormats featuring Indian flag from sale after New Delhi called them “insulting” and threatened to expel the company’s foreign workers. Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted late Wednesday that the mats, available only on Amazon’s Canadian site, were an “unacceptable” insult to the national flag and demanded an apology. On Thursday, the company said it had responded by removing them from sale. “We have removed the products from the website following the Indian demand,” said a company spokeswoman who asked not to be named. Swaraj, an avid tweeter with nearly seven million followers, issued her ultimatum after a Twitter user sent her a screengrab of the doormats on sale. “Amazon must tender unconditional apology. They must withdraw all products insulting our national flag immediately,” she tweeted.