THE Dalai Lama says he may appoint a successor, or rely on an election before his death in a break with tradition, a newspaper reported yesterday, following recent orders that China must approve Tibet’s spiritual leaders.

The US and Japan both urged North Korea to suspend preparations for a test-launch of a long-range missile today, and called on it to return to stalled talks on dismantling its nuclear weapons programme.

JAPANESE diplomats are investigating an astonishing claim that two former Japanese soldiers have been hiding in the mountains of the southern Philippines since World War Two.