OUSTED BRITISH MINISTER CLAIMS HE WAS ‘STITCHED UP’
LONDON: The British cabinet minister forced to quit over claims he called Downing Street police officers “plebs” claimed on Sunday he had been “stitched up” in his first full account of the furor.

Andrew Mitchell said abusive phrases attributed to him were “hung round my neck in a concerted effort to toxify the Conservative Party and destroy my political career.” Mitchell who resigned in October as the government chief whip, charged with enforcing discipline among Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives, said that he was hit with a “tsunami of vitriol” following the incident. Mitchell laid bare his account of the September 19 dispute and its aftermath in The Sunday Times newspaper, as he intensified efforts to clear his name and pave the way for a return to government. Last week police opened an investigation into a possible conspiracy against the former international development secretary after it emerged an email from a civilian witness backing up the claims was in fact written by another officer.

JAPAN EMPEROR AKIHITO TURNS 79
TOKYO: Japanese Emperor Akihito turned 79 on Sunday, reassuring thousands of well-wishers he has regained his health since heart by-pass surgery and remembering those affected by the quake-tsunami disaster. The softly spoken monarch gave his birthday address from a glass-covered balcony at the Imperial Palace overlooking the East Garden, as crowds braved the bitter cold, waving small Japanese flags. Surgeons successfully carried out the four-hour operation on February 18 after tests showed a narrowing of two of his coronary arteries. It was the emperor’s first operation since he was treated in 2003 for prostate cancer. The Japanese throne is held in deep respect by much of the public, despite being stripped of much of its mystique and its quasi-divine status in the aftermath of World War II.

JAPAN ANTI-NUCLEAR VOTE MELTS AWAY
TOKYO: Eight million people signed an Internet petition demanding an end to nuclear power and hundreds of thousands joined public protests. Yet Japan handed an election landslide to the most pro-atomic option on offer. Anti-nuclear activists have been left licking their wounds after the first national poll since the tsunami-sparked disaster at Fukushima saw an apparent melting away of public anger as the country welcomed back the establishment. AFP